The Miami Marlins are in a familiar position; they are once again far behind competing for the division and will be “selling” again at the trade deadline.
The Marlins are currently 42-49 and sit 13.5 games back of the Washington Nationals in the NL East division.
To top that off owner Jeffery Loria is working to sell the team.
So, the Marlins will likely be selling anyone they can as we approach the trade deadline and it raises the obvious question if superstar Giancarlo Stanton could be dealt.
Obviously, Stanton’s contract is the major issue. He is only 3 years in on a monumental 13 year, $325 million deal and the bulk of the money is on it’s way in the coming years.
Miami will have an issue finding a taker for that contract and to make things more dicey regarding any deal involving Stanton, he will have to waive his no-trade clause.
Waiving the clause won’t be impossible as Stanton has soured on the Marlins losing, but it will certainly limit Miami’s options.
“[The Marlins] told us that they’re prepared to dump,” a rival executive said according to Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller.
“They’re working on it and talking to clubs. But the conversations always end with one caveat, that they don’t know that the owner won’t bail at the last minute.”
A video posted, but later deleted, back in July on FoxSports.com (h/t Connor Byrne at MLB Trade Rumors) showed reporter Ken Rosenthal saying that Stanton is willing to “talk about his 2020 opt-out”, which would further indicate a potential willingness to facilitate a way out of Miami.
In the end the Marlins may have to lower expectations of a return package in any trade involving Stanton and they may have to realize that in order to get a deal done involving Stanton they may have to eat some money.
Then again, moving a superstar such as Stanton could help the team sell as it is likely that a potential buyer may balk at being tied to a deal of Stanton’s size.