Winners and losers from the Giancarlo Stanton fallout

1. Miami Marlins

It was as obvious as the nose on your face that Giancarlo Stanton was never going to play out all 13 years of his $325-million contract with the Marlins, but it could have ended much better than this. Instead of trading a bona fide top-five player in the game in a pure salary dump, Miami could have, you know, actually gotten something for him.

This is just another in a long list of bad transactions in the history of the Marlins franchise, and it was perpetrated by the brand-new ownership group. The more things change, the more they stay the same in Miami. The trade looks awful in every way, and things might only get worse from here. The Marlins have already traded All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon, and could soon auction off budding star outfielders Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich.

Future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter is being forced to be the media whipping boy for real owner Bruce Sherman. Jeter’s contribution to the $1.2-billion purchase price was relatively small, and he is now being tasked with liquidating all of the team’s useful assets. What this amounts to is a private-equity firm stepping in and buying a failing company, selling off everything of value and writing off whatever is left over.

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Eventually, the Marlins might be good under Jeter’s leadership, but not for a long time. Stanton could have been traded for a handful of top-100 prospects. Instead, they got one top-30 prospect from the Yankees and Starlin Castro, who might never actually play a single game for the Marlins. He is owed $24 million. Baseball is never going to grow in Miami with more of the same old style of “rebuilding.”