1. Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Marlins — Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has tried at least 10 times to pry Stanton loose, with no luck. Tough sell inside the division. But with Dan Jennings now at the helm in Miami, who knows if the Marlins would let Stanton go? Stanton would draw interest from a lot of teams, including the Tigers, Mets, Mariners, Yankees, Orioles, Angels, and Red Sox, so Jennings could get a load of top prospects.
OH. Well then!
As we’ve said before, this is a long shot, at best, seeing as though the Phillies have few prospects that anyone would want and that the Marlins would probably prefer not to trade Stanton within their own division.* But since there’s little other excitement in Philly sports right now, we’ll keep taking notice every time the rumor of the Phillies acquiring a 23-year-old right-handed slugger surfaces.
UPDATE: Apparently the “10 times” thing comes from a CSN interview with Amaro last month. So… just in case you didn’t see it.
via SB Nation
*I write that sentence knowing full well that if there’s one team dumb enough to do it, it’s the Marlins.
Sports Betting Updates
According to a major-league executive with knowledge of the situation, the Phillies over the last several months have made “multiple” inquiries to the Marlins about Stanton’s availability in a trade. The Phils, like every other team salivating over the 23-year-old slugger, have been told he’s not available.
The feeling around baseball is that Stanton could become available at some point and the Phils have let it be known they want to speak with the Marlins when and if they decide to move the young, power-hitting rightfielder.
It’s inevitable that the Marlins are eventually going to trade Giancarlo, who is arbitration eligible beginning next year (read: big money). The Phillies, and Ruben Amaro, have come up in rumors since the day the Marlins traded their entire roster sans Giancarlo to the Blue Jays in the winter. But besides the long-shotedness of all this, there is one major hurdle: No, not that the Marlins wouldn’t trade him to a team within their division (because they’re that stupid and cheap). A move like this would call for the stones of Amaro… but what if he’s no longer employed by the Phillies when the Marlins decide to get foolish? A brain teaser for you.
Salisbury lists basically the entire Phillies underachieving roster as trade candidates for Giancarlo (I misinterpreted this initially) if the Phillies were to sell. Read the reasons here. Grab a bite to eat, too.
