Yesterday Jon Morosi reported that the Giants would be willing to take on nearly all of Giancarlo Stanton’s contract in exchange for the Marlins’ slugger. Today Morosi reports what the Marlins would accept in return.
It’s substantially similar to an offer the Giants reportedly made to the Marlins in the past: second baseman Joe Panik and top prospects Tyler Beede and Chris Shaw. Morosi says that’d be enough if the Giants committed to taking on at least $250 million of Stanton’s salary.
Paink you know: He’s 27 and has a career line of .282/.345/. 408 in four seasons as the Giants second baseman. That’s nifty, and he’s a fan favorite, but it’s not the sort of thing you hold on to if it means getting the game’s best slugger.
Beede, the Giants first round pick of the 2014 draft, was a top-100 prospect as a starter heading into 2017, but had a poor campaign at Triple-A in his age-24 season, suggesting that the bloom is off of that rose to some extent. Shaw, their first round pick in 2015, hit a nice .292/.346/.525 with 24 homers across Double-A and Triple-A as a 23-year-old this past season. Not a couple of bad players from a thin system, but certainly worth parting ways with for Stanton. The money is a big thing, obviously, but the Giants have an extraordinarily profitable club in recent years. They can afford him.
For the Marlins, this looks like a poor haul for the NL MVP, but as we’ve said many times recently, they seem to be driven primarily by financial considerations in all of this. Marlins fans may enjoy Panik for a bit and may one day enjoy Beede and Shaw on the big league roster, but nowhere near as much as they’ve enjoyed Stanton or, for that matter, nowhere near as much as the team’s owners will enjoy saying money.
All in all, this is starting to sound like the framework of a real deal and not just a rumor. Stay tuned.