The July 31 MLB trade deadline has come and gone, but that does not mean Giancarlo Stanton will remain on the Miami Marlins’ roster through the end of the 2017 season.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports that Stanton cleared revocable waivers on Sunday, which was expected since the 27-year-old slugger is still owed a whopping $295 million over 10 years. However, that means Stanton is now eligible to be traded to any team before the end of August.
According to Passan, at least four teams have expressed interest in trading for Stanton. One team reportedly entered into discussions with Miami before the July 31 deadline and got to the point where names of players that could be sent to the Marlins for Stanton were being discussed. The San Francisco Giants were one of those interested teams, but talks broke off when the Marlins were unwilling to take on a larger major league contract as part of the deal.
The Marlins are in the process of being taken over by a new ownership group, and Stanton is playing his best baseball of the year. He has belted a home run in each of his last five games and has 10 homers in the last 11. He’s is hitting .283 on the season with an MLB-leading 43 home runs and 93 RBI.
There has been talk that the new Marlins ownership group would not want to alienate their fan base by trading their biggest star, but the reality is the fan base hardly exists anyway. Stanton’s massive contract makes little sense for a franchise like Miami, despite what one teammate thinks about his potential. If the Marlins are unable to trade Stanton in the next two weeks, expect them to aggressively pursue a deal this winter.
