Hey guys are we in 2003, big star making a boat load of money on a lousy team, demands a trade, very few suitors available, an agreement is reached, obstacles are presented, the trade fails to go through and the Yankees swoop in at the final hour, very quickly reach an agreement and get the superstar, in several ways these 2 situations are different, the obvious one, the fact that A-Rod wanted to go to the Red Sox and saw the trade fail due to finnancial issues, where as the only obstacle in the way of Stanton and both St Louis and San Francisco, was Giancarlo himself who ultimately vetoed both deals, but the funny thing is that the prefered landing spot for Stanton, the Dodgers, as we know also held talks with Miami and were willing to acquire the big slugger on their own terms, but in the end an agreement wasn't reached due to what, finnancial reasons, ironic right, now let's take a look at this, from diferent perspectives.
From a Giancarlo standpoint he obviously wanted to win, but that didn't mean accepting a trade to the first contender who picked up the phone, it was reported that he gave Miami a list of teams to which he'd approve a trade to, those teams were the Cubs, Astros, Yankees, and Dodgers, only the latter two showed interest, Chicago and Houston were completely unrealistic, and my point is, Miami fans should be grateful to Stanton, why, you ask, because it was pretty clear that Giancarlo's first choice was the Dodgers, there's no way to know it for sure, but that's more than a safe assumption, and LA made an offer or at least a sketch of one, but unlike the other 3 interested teams, they wanted Miami to take back a big contract like AGon or Kazmir and throw in cash, all and all something around 75 mil and the reigning NL MVP didn't force the Marlins hand by vetoing the Yankees trade, had he done that, Miami would have been in a tricky situation, i believe they'd have traded him eventually to LA, because keeping him just wasn't viable, but there was the possibility of shuting the door and doing what was reported that they did, which is hey we are trading everyone else, clearing up the payroll and you can either accept a deal to one of these teams or play here alone on an empty ballpark, whichever way it went, it wouldn't be a comfortable situation for either side, so Stanton went with it, and now is a Yankee, i don't know if he was as fine with going to New York as he was going to Los Angeles, that it mattered, probably never will, but if it did, he played with the music and got Miami a better deal, not the best, as St Louis and San Francisco appear to have made better offers, but nevertheless better than what the Dodgers were willing to give.
The Marlins obviously did well given the circumstances, having 2 trades vetoed, obviously was a setback but getting two intriguing prospects, a trade chip in Starlin Castro and getting rid of more than 260 mil of the remaining 295, all in all, you gotta be happy about that, plus if he opts out, Miami doesn`t have to pay anything at all.
From the Dodgers side of things, there's nothing to celebrate, but also nothing to be sad about, here. As i wrote before they had an opportunity, knowing Stanton's top choice was LA, they could simply offer Miami something halfway decent, a plausible deal, basically do their worst, to see if Stanton would use his leverage, and force Miami into such deal, or keep him, LA did that, they asked for salary relief and taking AGon, Kazmir or McCarthy which is right around what I was thinking, getting Stanton and not sending back one of those three, was not viable for LA, and ultimately Stanton made it easier on Miami and just okayed the Yankees trade, and the silverlining for LA, is one less bidder for Harper, and that one team is the only franchise with your kind of revenue, for people who still think Harper to New York could happen, neither one should or can play CF, DH is just not a viable option, and even if you are insane enough to plug one of them in there, you are commitinh north of 70 mil per year for close to a decade on two outfielders, that's unimaginable, so LA fans you'll be fine, a great team already.
From the Giants and Cardinals standpoint, you got rejected it sucks, but there's a bright side, one for the Giants this could easily have gone south, the deal you offered included giving up a lot, two top 10 prospects, and Panik that's no bargain, you will improve next year, full years out of MadBum, Melancon and whatever version of Sam Dyson you get, Samardzija can expect better luck to pair it up with great K-BB%, Matt Moore and Johnny Cueto can't possibly be any worse, and the Giants have made a living of outperforming their expectation, 3 WS in 5 years, the Cardinals have been good forever and even before then, while not making the playoffs they've won games the past two years, as you know they have a lot of talent, just not a lot of great talent and with a couple of right moves and a big bat in free agency like Machado or Donaldson, everyone knows the Cardinals will be fine, they are the Cardinals, baseball loyalty, very well run organization.
Lastly from the Yankees perspective, it's disturbing to know you're facing Stanton, Judge and Sanchez, but New York had more money to spend this offseason than LA and when you have this much cash, you can afford to bet on the possibility of carrying close to 30 mil of dead weight in your payroll in the final years of the contract, assuming it all goes south, if it doesn't even better, losing Castro hurts a bit, but not much really, the two prospects were on the second tier of their system, still two good ones, but really this trade was all about the money.
Anyway that's all, no real losers to me, Marlins still need a lot of work but it's a step in the right direction, next one sell Ozuna, peak value right now, not an option long term, Giants and Cardinals will both be fine, Dodgers, still a juggernaut, Yankees take on a big contract, with less risk than it would carry for most teams, because they are the Yankees, and Giancarlo gets to play in the Bronx and be a contender for a very, very long time.
Note: I'm not a Giants fan, but i'm still begging them, don't sign Moustakas, you'll one, be overpaying him, two, and most importantly you'll be giving up your second and fifth highest draft picks and $1 Mil in international bonus space, like your farm system isn't bad enough already.
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Sorry for the mumbling, if there was any.