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The Miami Marlins are willing to listen in on trade offers for young slugger Giancarlo Stanton, but are not in any hurry to ship him away, assistant general manager Dan Jennings told Jim Bowden of ESPN on Sunday:
Dan Jennings Marlins AGM told us they will listen to all offers on Giancarlo Stanton but they're not shopping him and don't want to move him
— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) December 30, 2012
Stanton, 23, has been thought to be the one Marlins player that Jeffrey Loria and company would keep -- not only to be the backbone of the team's "rebuilding" process, but also to appease the commissioner's office following the megatrade with the Toronto Blue Jays. In fact, as recent as last month Stanton was rumored to be "untouchable."
According to assistant GM Jennings, however, moving Stanton at the right price has never been completely off the table, reports Joe Frisaro of MLB.com:
"We’ve never not listened to a deal on any player...
"They may be untouchable until someone either overwhelms you or you get a package back that makes such a significant improvement on your club going forward. So we’ve always been willing to listen."
So while we’re not shopping him, certainly not looking to move [Stanton], yeah, if someone knocked on our door and said, ‘Hey, would you guys consider this and this and this,’ you have to listen."
The righty-slugging outfielder now has three big-league seasons under his belt and has improved in each one, hitting .290/.361/.608 with 37 home runs in 123 games this past season. The massive youngster has struggled to keep his knees in working order at times, but his injuries have yet to slow him down at the plate.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports writes that the Marlins would be smart to deal away Stanton now because his value will only decrease as he creeps closer to free agency:
Were Loria not some megalomaniacal charlatan, he already would've complemented the Marlins' latest salary dump with a move that makes far more baseball sense: trading Giancarlo Stanton, the power-hitting leviathan whose value never will be higher than it is right now.
