MLB Trade Rumors: Yankees become World Series favorites with Giancarlo Stanton

After weeks of speculation, 2017 NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton could soon be on his way to the New York Yankees.

According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, the New York Yankees have a deal in place with the Miami Marlins to acquire 2017 NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton. Yesterday, Stanton had named the Yankees, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros as the only four teams he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause for.

Starlin Castro is going to Miami along with minor leaguers Jorge Guzman and Jose Devers along with $30 million as the Yankees are paying the bulk of the remainder of Stanton’s contract, according to Joel Sherman.

Unless Stanton is going to hold out for a trade to his hometown Dodgers, this deal with the Yankees should go off without a hitch. Stanton has already turned down trades to St. Louis and San Francisco, but if the Marlins find him a deal to one of his four preferred teams, he has little choice but to take it.

This trade would give the Yankees a deadly lineup, with Stanton hitting next to AL MVP candidates Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez. Judge and Sanchez combined for 85 home runs and 204 RBI last season. The young Yankees exploded back onto the scene as contenders in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year and came within a game of the World Series. They led the AL with 241 home runs and were second in runs scored with 858.

Acquiring Stanton would cap off a banner year for Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who has been working deal after deal for the past two seasons. The Yankees have gotten much smarter about avoiding aging veterans on the free-agent market and have built an incredibly young and dynamic roster through their farm system and trades. Trades for Sonny Gray and David Robertson have done nothing to dent the depth in the minor leagues, and the Yankees still have a large pile of bonus money to invest in the international market after missing out on Shohei Ohtani.

As for Stanton, his obvious preference was to go to Los Angeles, but New York is a great fallback option. Hitting in Yankee Stadium and with Judge and Sanchez and whoever else Cashman can woo in free agency will allow him to put up much better numbers. Blasting 60 home runs in a division that includes Fenway Park and Oriole Park at Camden Yards feels like a formality for Stanton.

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Cashman and his front office have been doing their own version of rebuilding since Derek Jeter retired, and the patience is paying off. It’s a great time to be a Yankees fan. For everyone else — not so much. They will enter 2018 as the odds-on favorite to win the World Series and will be the team to beat for the foreseeable future.