Miami Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton career retrospective

Do you remember this trade? On December 11, 2017, the Miami Marlins traded RF Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees. This happened shortly after he signed a franchise record 13 year/$325 million extension with The Fish. The return was abysmal, because Stanton used his no-trade clause to limit the amount of teams that he could be traded to. Add the contract size and it was no surprise that The Fish didn't really have much leverage. Anyway, let's go back in time...

Giancarlo Stanton had an interesting career with the Miami Marlins.

Giancarlo Stanton debuted as "Mike Stanton" back in 2010 with the then Florida Marlins. There was a lot of hype around the top prospect, and a lot of hope that he could jumpstart the team's next contention window. Stanton batted .259/.326/.507, with 22 home runs and 59 RBI in 100 games and 359 AB. This was an amazing debut and he was worth 2.8 WAR. He did have more strikeouts (123) than hits (93)...

Stanton's follow-up in 2011 saw him bat an even better .262/.356/.537, with 34 home runs and 87 RBI in 150 games and 516 AB. He was worth 4.1 WAR and was now a legitimate star. The 2012 season saw the team's name change from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins, and Stanton be worth a very impressive 5.4 WAR. This time he batted an elite .290/.361/.608, with 37 home runs and 86 RBI in 123 games and 449 AB. This season saw Stanton's injury-proneness become a serious issue.

Giancarlo Stanton missed more time in 2013, playing in 116 games and receiving 425 AB. His batting line also dropped to .249/.365/.480, with 24 home runs and 62 RBI. He was worth 2.8 WAR this time. He managed to get into more games in 2014 (145) and received 539 AB. 2015 and 2016 saw Stanton miss significant time, combining for only 193 games and 692 AB. He batted a solid but unimpressive .250/.334/.536 for that time period. He was worth 6.2 WAR for that stretch.

Things got better for Stanton in 2017, his final season with the Miami Marlins. That season he chased the home run record, as he batted .281/.376/.631 with 59 home runs and 132 RBI, in 159 games and 597 AB. He was worth a career-best 7.9 WAR that season. Overall for his Fish tenure, Stanton was worth 35.7 WAR and batted .268/.360/.554.

Giancarlo Stanton should've been traded before his extension. The extension was never really given to him in an honest way. Then owner Jeffrey Loria seems to have authorized it to send a message of caring, when he was likely already planning the team's sale and the subsequent moving of the contract off of the books. Had he been traded before the extension, he would've brought a much better return to The Fish, with no NTC and being less expensive.

Was Stanton worth an extension if the Miami Marlins had better ownership? Not really. He struck out a ton and was quite injury-prone. Prior to this season, from 2018-2023 with the New York Yankees, he's batted just .243/.328/.485 while being limited to DH duties due to bad defense and constant injuries. The Miami Marlins were right to trade him, but the timing was off.