The Marlins Won The Giancarlo Stanton Trade

The media crushed the Marlins when they signed Giancarlo Stanton to a 13-year $325 million contract. They deserved to be crushed for it. Stanton never had a prayer at finishing out the rest of that deal in a Marlins uniform. When Miami eventually dealt Stanton to the Yankees, the Marlins got crushed again. The problem is the Marlins didn’t deserve to be crushed for trading him. As we sit here today, the Marlins won the Giancarlo Stanton trade. That probably won’t change either.

Miami could have cashed in a hell of a lot more than they did if they never signed him to the extension. That’s fair. Let’s put that bullet point to the side. In terms of the actual trade, Miami ate $30 million of the remaining $295 left on the contract while dealing Stanton to the Yankees. New York sent Miami Starlin Castro, Jorge Guzman, and Jose Devers. There is no debate that Miami won this trade.

Stanton, 29, has struggled with injuries in 2019. Stanton has played in 14 total games this season. He’s also cashed in on $26 million this year to basically not play. This is not the first time Giancarlo has been hurt. He has played in less than 125 games in 6 of his 10 years in the big leagues. It’s fair to wonder how he will age over the upcoming years. Stanton is a big guy with a funky swing. How many more years can he even play the outfield? He barely played this year as it is. New York is stuck with Stanton through 2028. Trading for Stanton in the first place never made any sense.

Side note: Not surprised I was way ahead of the curve on this. The media will never get it. Nothing you can do. By the way, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Nolan Arenado signed the four biggest contracts this offseason. All four of them missed the playoffs. Haper and Machado especially, I told you they were disasters waiting to happen. Again, nobody listened. That’s fine. I’ll continue to be smarter than you. Trading for Stanton was stupid enough. Giving up anything for him goes into the insane asylum category.

The Stanton contract isn’t just a bad one. He’s the least clutch player in baseball. Stanton looks good when the game isn’t in the balance. He’s the biggest choke artist in the sport. ESPN doesn’t do much right but before the season, they documented how Stanton was probably a detriment to winning. Stanton is one of the least clutch players in the history of the sport. The analytical nerds will say those numbers are flukes. They’re not. You can see it in his eyes. We saw it last postseason. Craig Kimbrel wanted to lose that game so badly. Stanton was the one hitter I knew was an automatic out before he ever stepped to the plate.

We already know the last 7 or so years of the Stanton contract is going to look like Angels – Albert Pujols territory. The fact that the Marlins didn’t have to send the Yankees prospects to get rid of Stanton is the real win in this trade.

The Marlins didn’t get much here. Starlin Castro turned into a zero. Jorge Guzman is still in AA. We don’t know what we’re getting there yet. The prize of the deal is going to likely be Jose Devers. Jose is the cousin of Rafael Devers who has turned into one of the best hitters in the sport at the age of 22. If Jose is even 85 percent of Raffy, it’s going to go down as perhaps the best trade in Marlins history. Jose Devers is hitting .322 in the minors in 2019.

As the Yankees hope to win their first championship this decade, the questions about Giancarlo Stanton intensify. Thus far, he has not handled the bright lights of New York. Then again, I could of told you that was going to happen. I actually had this one sourced. True story.

The Marlins haven’t won many trades since they started tearing down the roster. This one they got right. Well, sort of right. The Marlins won the Giancarlo Stanton. It’s a miracle they didn’t have to attach prospects to the contract to get rid of him.