MLB Rumors: Giancarlo Stanton to the Boston Red Sox a trade that makes sense?
By Hayden Kane
The Miami Marlins seemingly traded all of their top talent before the 2013 season. Everybody except Giancarlo Stanton, that is.
From the moment they retained him on the roster the trade rumors have been relentless. Every single team in baseball could use a young, elite, right-handed slugger who is under team control through 2017, after all. But not even the Marlins and their baffling tactics were willing to trade such a rare player.
Nothing came of those rumors and the Marlins recently expressed interesting in signing Stanton to an extension. Until such a deal is done, though, the trade rumors will continue. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe offers what he believes to be a plausible trade partner this morning: none other than the Boston Red Sox.
"Numerous teams would be in the hunt for Stanton, including the Cubs, Tigers, Angels, Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees, Mets, Giants, Twins, and Mariners. You’d have to give up top young players, and then sign Stanton to a huge long-term deal.But in reality, the team that matches up best with Miami is Boston. The Red Sox have the young players Miami wants and they have the financial resources to sign him.”"
What would that trade look like? Cafardo offers the following possibilities:
"Assuming the Red Sox would put Xander Bogaerts and Henry Owens on their no-trade list, the Marlins have always liked Will Middlebrooks and certainly feel Garin Cecchini is a top prospect. Add one of them to a package of Matt Barnes,Christian Vazquez, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Mookie Betts? Would that be enough? Would that be too much for the Sox to give up?”"
The answers to those last two questions will remain fluid based on Stanton’s production and health. 2013 was a down year for him in both regards, but you are still talking about a 24-year-old with 117 career home runs and a career .889 OPS. You have to go pretty crazy before any team is giving up “too much” in a trade to land him.