Giancarlo Stanton: “Five months doesn’t change five years”

If you were holding out any hope for the Miami Marlins to make a last ditch effort to resign Giancarlo Stanton this off-season, don’t hold your breath. Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports has a report about Giancarlo Stanton and his future in Miami and that future doesn’t look to bright for Marlins fans:

The question was whether the events of this season had altered his top-down view of the organization. He’d raised his eyes, thinking.“Five months,” he said, “doesn’t change five years.”

Include me in this group, but it has been pretty naïve for fans to believe that one good season would wipe out the torturous off-season of 2012, where the Marlins repeated their history of holding fire sales to unload large salaries. One season is not going to make up for Stanton having to go through the worst season of his career.

Brown does note that Stanton loves Miami and wants to deliver the fans of Miami a winning team. However, he cannot do much more than he has this season. The rest of the team building is up to the Marlins front office. That includes owner Jeffery Loria, whose track record is hard to trust at this stage.

He can be a free agent in two years. Already there’s speculation he could be traded before then, before his arbitration years grow too rich for Loria. There’ve been suggestions the Marlins would seek to sign Stanton to a long-term contract at something like real market value, and it was impossible not to be reminded Monday night at Angel Stadium that the Los Angeles Angels have an archetypal ballplayer of their own. A year behind Stanton in service time, Mike Trout has $144.5 million coming over six years, starting in 2015. Trout also hits in front of Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton. Which is to say, Stanton does not.When Stanton does get that contract, whether it’s in Miami or not, it’ll be for all or the better part of his prime. He does love Miami and the people there. He does believe they deserve a ballclub they can rely on. That’s not entirely up to him. He can show up, grow into an MVP candidate before them, make good money, give them truly great moments. But will the Marlins compete? Will they commit to that? Have they yet?

With the Marlins squaring off, Stanton must be reminded of the Marlins pursuit of Albert Pujols and the ensuing fire sale. Like many of us, Stanton must be wondering “what if” about the whole Pujols-Marlins chase in 2012.

I don’t know if having Josh Hamilton hitting behind Stanton is a plus at this stage, I’m pretty sure Trout would prefer Marcell Ozuna, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Brown’s point does make a ton of sense though. The Marlins are going to need to acquire a major player to put next to their offensive core of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna to convince the superstar to stay in Miami longterm. Not only would they have to acquire the player, they’d have to keep him around for more than one season as well.

At the trading deadline, Marlin Maniac endorsed that the Marlins go all out for David Price. I’m also advocating the Marlins should acquire Adrian Beltre from the Texas Rangers before the August 31st waiver deadline to help the team make a playoff push.

Either of these two moves would have moved the needle for the Marlins’ chances of retaining the best power hitter in baseball. They may have not convinced the star to resign in Miami, but it would have enhanced their chances to make the playoffs this season.