Sure, Miami Marlins, you’re going to sign Giancarlo Stanton to a long-term contract extension. Oh yeah, you’re going to keep a star player around.
Whatever, man — just let us know when Stanton is traded to the Red Sox for a boatload of prospects and we’ll resume writing those columns about what a feckless, disingenuous franchise you are to Marlins fans, the city of Miami and Major League Baseball.
And when Stanton signs a deal worth the gross national product of a third-world country while you’re building a fledgling contender with all that young talent accumulated, maybe some of us will once again express reluctant admiration for a philosophy that actually seems to work in the Marlins’ favor.
Wait a minute — say what?
Source: Stanton deal under discussion with #Marlins is in range of 12 years/$320M. Reported last night that it was at least 10 years/$300M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 14, 2014
Could the Marlins actually do this? Would they actually follow through on their stated intentions of keeping their superstar slugger, presumably for the rest of his career, and actually build around him?
But… but… this isn’t what the Marlins do. Owner Jeffrey Loria dupes his fanbase, making false promises and pocketing their money, while lighting cigars with 100 dollar bills and dining on baby endangered animals from his yacht off South Beach.
A $300 million contract is a statement. The Marlins wouldn’t just keep a star instead of trading him; they would make him the highest-paid player in professional sports. Not Mike Trout, who somewhat surprisingly passed on the opportunity to become baseball’s first 300 Million Dollar Man when he signed a six-year, $144.5 million extension in March, widely considered the best player in the sport. But Giancarlo Stanton. A player for the Miami Marlins, a team which despite its two World Series championship, still kind of has that expansion team smell to it.
This is the sort of landmark development that would send shockwaves through the entire sports world. It will draw headlines on cable and network news, not just be relegated to a sports segment. And those reports would involve someone other than Alex Rodriguez. Even casual observers would suddenly know who Giancarlo Stanton is and become aware that there’s a professional baseball team in Miami. (Over Saturday breakfast with my mother, she’ll ask if I’ve ever heard of “this Stanton.” Yes, Mom, I have.)
Obviously, making this sort of long-term financial investment in Stanton would be a drastic change in philosophy for the Marlins. It would represent a commitment to players and fans never seen before in Miami. (Maybe Stanton would lead Miami’s “core four,” including Jose Fernandez, Christian Yelich and Adeiny Hechavarria.) And the team truly would have a face of the franchise, a superheroic star upon which multiple ad campaigns and community outreach programs could be built.
Stanton is someone who MLB could promote as a marquee talent — something it hasn’t been very good at doing in the past — which would surely be easier if he was going to be in the same uniform for the next 10 to 12 years. If the 25-year-old becomes the all-time great that his first five major league seasons have promised, with 154 home runs by age 24, playing his entire career with the same team will be the shiny bow wrapping up that present.
But is it wrong to still hold just a little bit of skepticism here? I’m not dubious about the contract. From the various reports from the baseball insiders we trust (Rosenthal, Heyman, etc.), it sounds like this agreement between Stanton and the Marlins is really going to happen. To fall apart now would be a huge embarrassment to the franchise. Of course, Loria could then try the “Hey, we tried — he rejected us” tactic with fans, and use that to justify a Stanton trade.
I just wonder if we’re all a bit too hasty to presume this means Stanton is going to be a Marlin for life and the team is doing business differently now.
Reports are that one of the hold-ups in finalizing this deal is including an opt-out clause that would Stanton to get out of the contract — either if he doesn’t like the direction the Marlins are taking or to seek yet another big payday when he’ll still be only 30 years old, typically the age that most players reach free agency.
http://gty.im/483578577
The other possibility is that Stanton’s people are pushing for a no-trade clause, something the Marlins have never included in a contract before. How deep does the Marlins’ commitment go, beyond the money? And if the team does decide to trade Stanton, will it allow him to control where he might go?
(That could be a moot point if Stanton plays another five years in Miami, as he’ll achieve “10-and-five” rights — 10 years in MLB, five with the same team — that would enable him to veto a trade anyway. So maybe an opt-out clause would be after three or four seasons?)
Signing Stanton to a 10- to 12-year contract does not mean the Marlins would never trade him. The argument could be made that it might actually make him more tradeable, putting Miami in position to ask for even more in return. Stanton is two years away from free agency, with arbitration eligibility that will make him expensive, but not outlandishly so. That sort of club control is appealing to teams hoping to trade for him, knowing they would have him for at least two seasons and first crack at a contract extension.
But if Stanton signs this reported contract, he’ll basically be under club control for the rest of his career (barring that possible opt-out clause). A team could make a deal for Stanton knowing it would have him for, say, at least five years — if not longer. What could the Marlins ask for in return under those circumstances?
And if you say the Marlins could never trade such a contract, come on — of course they could. Stanton would still be a relatively young player, in or perhaps just past his prime. And he’d already be signed for the same terms that any team wanting him would have agreed to anyway, whether through a contract extension or free agency.
I hope I’m wrong and that my skepticism is misplaced. It would be fun to see Stanton stay with the Marlins and that team really making a long-term commitment to building a team for its fans. It would also be a good thing for Major League Baseball. But even if he’s suddenly massively generous, Loria is still like the scorpion from that fable about the scorpion and the frog. What is his nature?
