2012 appeared to be a banner year for The Miami Marlins. The Marlins
were moving into the brand new state-of-the-art Marlins Park after
nearly two decades at Sun Life Stadium. The Marlins front office made
huge upgrades in the off-season by signing three free agents in
shortstop Jose Reyes, closer Heath Bell, and starting pitcher Mark
Buerhle. The Marlins even introduced a new manager in Ozzie Guillen. For
the first time in a long time there appeared to be excitement for
Marlins baseball in South Florida as the team was expected to contend
for The World Series. The Marlins opened the season with a payroll that
exceeded $118 million, but by July things had changed drastically. After
a slow start to the season, Marlins general manager Michael Hill
started the fire sale by trading disgruntled infielder Hanley Ramirez to
The Los Angeles Dodgers. Starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez and infielder
Omar Infante were sent to The Detroit Tigers. Following this infielder
Gaby Sanchez was traded to The Pittsburgh Pirates. The wheels officially
came off after the season. Guillen was fired as skipper of The Marlins,
Bell was traded to The Arizona Diamondbacks and Reyes, Buerhle,
starting pitcher Josh Johnson, catcher John Buck, and utility man Emilio
Bonafacio were shipped to The Toronto Blue Jays. Marlins owner Jeffrey
Loria is now facing backlash in South Florida as politicians and fans
alike feel as if they have been duped by the team to build a new stadium
for a team that would be committed to winning. 
Now The Marlins are back
at square one as they are once again “rebuilding” with a team full of
minor league talent except for one player, All-Star right fielder
Giancarlo Stanton.
Stanton came into 2012 with tremendous promise
as he was expected to be a key piece in The Marlins contending for The
National League Eastern Division Title. Instead he and The Marlins only
won 69 games as they finished the year in last place, 29 games behind
the first place Washington Nationals. Things were so bad last season
that Stanton was the only Marlin who was selected to last year’s Major
League Baseball All-Star Game in Kansas City. Due to a knee injury
Stanton didn’t make the trip which left The Marlins as the only team
that didn’t have a representative for the game. Now with fellow All-Star
caliber players such as Reyes and Ramirez gone, Stanton is now the lone
fish as he is stuck in Miami.
Stanton’s earliest arbitration
date is 2014 with his earliest shot at free agency not coming up until
2017. With Stanton nowhere near earning $1 million per season, The
Marlins will hold onto him for as long as possible because he is a good
player and more importantly he is on the cheap. In parts of three season
with The Marlins, Stanton has already clobbered 93 home runs which puts
him at 10th place on the franchise’s all-time list for long balls. His
most memorable home run came last May in a game against The Colorado
Rockies. Stanton hit a 462-foot grand slam homer off of Rockies pitcher
Jamie Moyer that damaged the scoreboard in left field. Stanton’s home
run hitting ability allows him to put a team on his back for several
weeks at a time, but now he will be asked to do everything. Reports out
of Miami are that The Marlins are not looking to trade Stanton, but they
would be willing to listen to offers. At this point Hill and Loria
should trade Stanton and allow him to continue his career with an
organization that is committed to winning.
The Texas Rangers lost
All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton in free agency and they are in need
of another power bat in their lineup. Stanton and Rangers outfielder
Nelson Cruz both primarily play in right field, but I am sure that one
of these men could shift to left field if Rangers president Nolan Ryan
were somehow able to execute a trade that would land Stanton in
Arlington. The New York Mets are in a full rebuilding and I doubt that
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson would be willing to ship his top
prospects to South Florida, but The Mets are in desperate need for
talent in their outfield. If The Marlins price isn’t crazy, could The
Mets take a run on Stanton? When you talk about teams that are willing
to trade for young talent, you can never forget about The New York
Yankees. The Yankees have an aging team and they are looking to get
younger. If The Yankees were to get involved in a pursuit of Stanton,
they would send both money and prospects to Miami in exchange for the
power-hitting right fielder.
One thing that is certain is that
Stanton will not finish his career with The Marlins. Even though The
Marlins are not required to pay Stanton big money at the moment, Hill
and Loria should send him to a team where he can flourish instead of
keeping him at the sideshow that is Marlins baseball.
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