MVP award would make Giancarlo Stanton trade difficult

The Miami Marlins face the monumental task of trading Giancarlo Stanton this offseason. Strangely, the more awards he wins, the harder he is to move.

The Miami Marlins would normally be ecstatic with the type of offseason Giancarlo Stanton is having. He won a Silver Slugger award. He won a Players Choice award. But if he wins an MVP award, it’ll be a nightmare for the Miami Marlins front office.

This offseason is inverse logic at it’s finest. Because of his massive contract, the Marlins want to trade Stanton and return a number of prospects. But the more awards he wins, the more they’ll want to get for him.

The only thing that isn’t changing is the imposing dollar amount on his contract. He’s owed $295 million, and there is no award in the world that will make that look less frightening to bidders.

Think of getting Stanton’s contract off the books as an asset unto itself. If Stanton were entering his final year of arbitration, he’d be able to pull back far more. But because the Marlins are dealing him for salary relief, it hurts his tangible return.

He needed a big 2017 season just to make his contract reasonably moveable. He had the best season of his career, but now the acknowledgement of that season is have a two-pronged effect.

One, it’s making it nearly impossible for the Miami Marlins to get equal value. How do you replace 59-home runs and 132 RBI’s? Anything short of batting 11 players makes it a futile effort. Instead, the Marlins are left to approximate what a player might be.

No matter where they land, they’ll be settling.

And two, it’s further entrenching Marlins in wanting to keep Stanton in the fold. “You traded an MVP winner?! Jeter is Loria!”

People will be unhappy, no matter what

If Stanton doesn’t get traded, it’s because he decided that’s what he wants. He still has a full no-trade clause, and can veto any trade he doesn’t involving him that he doesn’t like. And there will be fans livid for his perceived selfishness and hamstringing the team for a decade.

If he does get traded, there will be endless qualms about what the Marlins returned. No matter what the return is, it won’t be enough. And they’ll be right. But you can thank Jeffery Loria and his free-wheeling checkbook for that.

Next: What would you do if you ere the Miami Marlins next GM?

Keep in mind that Stanton’s salary is the biggest determining factor for the Miami Marlins right now. The return is very important, and they’ll want at least one of baseballs top prospects, but let’s call it what it is: a salary dump.

Maybe it won’t happen at all. Maybe a market for Martin Prado, Brad Ziegler, and Junichi Tazawa materializes at the 11th hour and the Miami Marlins can keep the whole 77-win squad.