Former Miami Marlins slugger wins an award

Will Bruce Sherman ever spend a lot on extending or signing a top player? Sadly, that's not something that most of us expect. At this point, the Miami Marlins are busy just finding a new manager. In the meantime, a former slugger and NL MVP award winner, is setting the Majors on fire in the American League Championship Series. Former RF Giancarlo Stanton specifically. He won the ALCS MVP award.

Former Miami Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton won the ALCS MVP award.

I wasn't a big fan of Giancarlo Stanton when he played for the Miami Marlins. I liked the historic 2017 season of course. I was hoping that he'd break the non-steroid MLB home run record and cheered him on. I was glad when he won the NL MVP award and thought that he was a great middle of the order bat to have.

All that said, I knew that he was a bad contract when The Fish extended him. He was too injury-prone, too strikeout-heavy. I knew that he would never live up to the contract and that it would quickly turn into an albatross for the team. I thought that the right move was to trade him before his free agency for a prospect haul. Bring in a package of prospects who could make a bigger difference and be better investments long-term. That would've worked before the extension and the no-trade clause.

Since his first season with the New York Yankees in 2018, he's batted .241/.323/.483. He only played over 115 games in a season twice in seven years. He hasn't been close to being worth his contract. He has been different in the playoffs however. In the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians this season, he's batted .222/.333/.889 with 4 home runs and 7 RBI in 5 games and 18 AB.

Giancarlo Stanton has been a beast for the New York Yankees in the playoffs and will likely lead them to a World Series win. The Miami Marlins however will be fine without him. I'm happy for Stanton but I'm glad that the contract isn't on the books.