Report: Cardinals in Giancarlo Stanton trade talks

It’s pretty clear Giancarlo Stanton is going to agree to a trade somewhere, and the St. Louis Cardinals are hoping to convince him to join them.

The San Francisco Giants aren’t the only team making a pitch for Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

Sports Illustrated reports that representatives for Stanton are meeting with the St. Louis Cardinals in Los Angeles, trying to see if a trade can be worked out for the 2017 National League MVP. A similar meeting with the Giants is said to have taken place on Thursday.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network was first to break the news:

Such maneuvering is necessary because Stanton has a full no-trade clause built into his current 13-year, $325 million contract, which still has 10 years remaining. The Marlins and their new leadership have made it no secret that they want Stanton to accept a move, preferring to clear the decks for a complete rebuild.

Earlier reports suggested that Stanton’s preference would be to go home — meaning to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Still, even with money really no object to the Dodgers, it’s hard to envision a scenario where they end up adding a contract like Stanton’s to their already hefty payroll without the situation changing in the team’s favor.

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If he agrees to go to St. Louis, Stanton would join an organization renowned for its winning ways but desperately in need of both an upgrade and the type of star power the Cardinals haven’t truly had since Albert Pujols was in his prime. It wouldn’t make their NL Central rivals too happy, but one imagines the rest of the MLB world would be very intrigued to see what would happen is Stanton ended up in St. Louis.