Teams Inquiring on Giancarlo Stanton But Selig is Watching Marlins

In the wake of their blockbuster trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, just about every team with a working phone is calling the Marlins about Giancarlo Stanton. In his weekly column, the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo says that the Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles and Cubs are among the many teams that have already talked to Miami about the power-hitting right fielder. There is no word yet on whether the Marlins are really looking to trade Stanton, but clearly it will take premiere young talent to pry Stanton from the Marlins.

There no doubt that Stanton would be the biggest name on the market if made available. At just 22 years old, Stanton hit 37 home runs and batted .290/.361/.608 for Miami while playing excellent defense in right field. He will not be arbitration eligible until 2014, so unlike the players dealt to Toronto, he is extremely inexpensive. Given his cost and his abilities, it could easily take two or more top 100 prospects or young major league talent to convince Miami to trade him and few teams can offer so much.

Cafardo brings up another issue with a possible Stanton trade. With three of the team’s most expensive contracts traded away in the deal with the Blue Jays and their history of salary dumps, Bud Selig may be watching the Marlins carefully at this point. The commissioner can veto any deal that he feels is not in the best interest of baseball, but thus far he has been extremely hesitant to use that power in matters of player transactions. However, with the Marlins payroll down to just an estimated $26M at this point, further dismantling of the team may test his limits. Combined with their most recent fire sale, trading Stanton just one season after opening their publicly financed stadium might be enough to force Selig to take action against Marlin’s ownership.