The Marlins and slugger Giancarlo Stanton may be on the cusp of a 13-year, $325MM contract extension, but Stanton may be “playing a dangerous game,” writes Yahoo’s Jeff Passan. The Marlins under Jeffrey Loria and David Samson have bamboozled and excused their way out of spending money on the major league product. Passan wonders why Loria would eschew the methods that have made him money over the years. The rumored payday could be a “Faustian bargain” if the front office doesn’t properly fill the roster around Stanton.
- Stanton’s negotiations are all about power – and not just home run power – says Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. As it stands, Stanton is still two years away from free agency. The rumored deal is expected to contain a no-trade clause and an opt-out after the 2019 season. Both clauses give Stanton leverage. He can potentially dictate where he’s traded, force a mid-contract extension, or hit the open market as a 30-year-old. To me, this mitigates the risk of Loria-being-Loria.
- The Rays have concluded the first round of interviews for their open manager position, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Barry Larkin was the last of ten interviewees in the initial round. The club will step back before deciding how many candidates to bring back for a round of in-person interviews.
- Andrew Velazquez and Justin Williams – the players acquired in the Jeremy Hellickson trade – were immediately ranked as the ninth and tenth best prospects in the Rays system by MLB.com, Topkin notes.
I’ve like Velasquez for a while. The hit tool is a little questionable, but he’ll grow defensively and has speed. He could easily be a starting caliber SS.
Hellickson, meanwhile, may or may not be a dumpster fire.
Get that Loria money, Stanton!
Faustian bargain is an interesting choice of words. Stanton needs to be comfortable with the idea that he’s going to be the lightening rod for everything from this point forward. If he doesn’t sign, Loria will brand him greedy. If he does sign, after a time, there will be constant low-level grumbling about how his salary is dragging down the entire payroll and by extension the entire roster. Loria will throw him under the bus first, then trade him. Or, it could work out. Any chance of a MLBTR Poll on the probability of it working out?
The contract has an opt out clause and a no trade clause. Stanton can be a free agent in 5 years and the Marlins need his permission to trade him.
All true. The problem is the next five years. Stanton could have gone anywhere in two years. Now, he’s not out until five, and if there are problems with the Loria relationship, they are likely to appear in that time-frame. If the situation gets bad, Stanton will agree to a trade, just to get out of town.
Stanton was inches away from a career ending injury last year. If he gets injured he gets paid. I don’t feel sorry for people that make 325 mil.
I don’t feel sorry for owners who ruin franchises either.
It’s a strange thing. Some people look at players, who have these ridiculous talents that most of us couldn’t even dream of, as always being the greedy ones. Yet, at the same time, they think nothing of their tax dollars getting diverted from schools, sanitation, and public services to a billionaire owner for a free pleasure palace and infrastructure. And the special tax treatments as well. Seems to me the standards should be the same. Players should work as hard as they can for those big paychecks, and owners should strive to put a high quality product on the field for the community that’s paying them.
Nor do I, but I don’t feel sorry for Loria either. Someone is going to get the cash and it’s not you or I. I’d rather have it go to Stanton than Loria.
A snowballs shot on a summers day on South Beach.
The only thing Stanton has to do to is earn his paycheck on the field. As far as a competent surrounding cast, that’s up to the Marlins. Besides Trout and Harper (maybe), I can’t think of a better guy to get the money than Stanton.
Loria knows he can always file bankruptcy and leave Stanton in line for his money in court. Probably the worst guy to be making a deal with–remember, these owners aren’t always so made of money. Can you say “Tom Hicks”?
Not true. Under terms of the CBA, Stanton is a free agent if he doesn’t get paid and under the baseball constitution, the Commissioner can take the team if Stanton doesn’t get paid. The court won’t go against the 2 contracts.
We’ll see. It depends on the circumstances down the road. Stanton could end up so upset at the lack of talent around him that he waives his no trade clause and wants out. Loria would still likely be on the hook for a portion of the remainder of the contract before Stanton could opt out. After Hick’s Sports Group filed bankruptcy, guess who the number one guy was in line with the court to collect what was still owed to him from his similar contract? Alex Rodriguez–who signed that 10 year/$250mil deal with the Rangers and was still owed money from the end of his contract after being dealt to the Yankees. MLB did take the Rangers and forced a sale to help pay off Hicks’ debts–so it’s happened before with these big deals and a bad owner who was supposedly a billionaire. You can say it never would happen…but it already did once before.
“the risk of Loria-being-Loria”….Just hearing that brings a smile to my face because it does not need an explanation, every baseball fan knows what it means
We’re worried about the risk for a guy that is about to sign a 13 year $325,000,000 contract!? Seriously? I think he’ll be fine.
Not worried, just giving his opinion on why he included some of those provisions.
And if he’s that concerned about it, he’s welcome to test free-agency in two years.
Sure, just like he’s welcome to continue negotiating on a 13/$325MM contract to get it the way he’s happy with.
He’s probably not that concerned about it, as a player/agent you go for what you can get. Don’t see the problem with adding some insurance in case things go south in Miami.
If he is that concerned he can say no and be negotiating a bigger contract in a few weeks after he is traded with a team that CAN actually put a winning team on the field around Stanton after signing him to a contract like that. A team where stuff like this is not JUST a PR move. Notice that he hasnt signed yet?
Ok, the simple fact of the matter is Stanton is a big boy. He has to know his history well enough to know that if he signs long term with the Marlins it will mean he’s likely to be paid on average around 40-50 percent of the team’s annual payroll. That said, he’ll be signing what amounts to a lifetime deal for the kind of money players typically only dream about.
Faustian bargain? No.
Faustian bargain = “a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order in order to achieve power or success for a delimited term.” Basically, Stanton will be taking $325million to spend the best years of his career in Baseball Hell. Good luck trading that contract with or without Stanton’s permission–seems like an apt phrase to me.
I’m well aware of the definition. My point is this isn’t selling one’s soul and he’d get 325 million. He’d be choosing to be set for life after baseball rather than seriously going after a ring.
Stanton is reportedly being offered 325 million dollars. If he’s worried about how competitive the Marlins would be over 10+ years, turn it down. It’s only over a quarter of a billion dollars. Wait for free agency.
He wont have to wait for free agency. The Marlins cant afford to keep him even until opening day if he refuses the deal. Unless they get a huge discount on 2015 and 2016 they cant afford him the next two years.
Stanton had quite a scare with that pitch to the face. He probably decided that it was worth it to lock in the guaranteed money, even if it meant potentially getting stuck in Florida for a few extra years before the opt out.
Yeah, remembering what happened to Dickie Thon–he was never the same after getting his face smashed in with a fastball.
If anyone playing baseball for a living were to turn down 25 million a year, with a guarantee to retire before the age of 40, that player would be a greedy moron, plain and simple.325 million dollars.
I think Stanton should turn this deal down. I mean, he’d be making only over 154k per game.
That’s only roughly 68k per day over 365 days.
Not like that per day value is 20k than the average US annual salary or anything like that.
I think Mike Stanton was a better player than Giancarlo Stanton.
I wonder what Jeff Passan feels about the Phillies situation? Without the last massive contract dump, the Marlins would be sinking just like Philadelphia.
Instead, the Marlins are trending upwards.
The fact that he hasn’t signed yet, tells me he’s not interested in playing for Marlins. I don’t blame him. It may work out better for Miami not signing him then they’ll have money to sign their other young talent i.e. Yelich, J. Fernandez, etc