Giancarlo Stanton has looked a lot like Manny Ramirez in his prime this season. It’s fitting because the Miami Marlins slugger remembers being mentioned in a trade rumor involving Ramirez back when he was a minor leaguer in 2008.
Stanton, who has been the subject of trade speculation for a while, continues to brush off the chatter, telling WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford earlier this week that “rumors are rumors.” The 24-year-old still remembers the Ramirez trade talk, though, because it was the first rumor he had ever been involved in and the 2007 second-round pick had a hard time wrapping his head around the whole situation.
“I actually didn’t understand the business side of it as much — or pretty much at all — at that point so I was like, ‘Wait a minute, me for Manny Ramirez? This makes no sense. That can’t be even close to true,'” Stanton said on “The Bradfo Show” podcast. “As I grew up and got older, I understood how it works a little better and understood that was a possibility.”
Stanton was just an 18-year-old kid playing in Single-A at the time of the Ramirez rumor. Ramirez, meanwhile, was a perennial All-Star coming off another World Series title the season prior.
“It was actually pretty flattering to be compared to that caliber at that time,” Stanton told Bradford. “It’s a huge risk when you do that for a minor league guy that’s never touched foot in the big leagues.”
Stanton now is one of Major League Baseball’s most feared sluggers. He is the face of the Marlins and someone who Miami could build around for the foreseeable future. The Marlins have a reputation of selling off pieces, though, and there’s a widespread belief that Stanton someday could be traded if the Fish ultimately decide they won’t be able to afford him when he hits free agency.
“It’s usually something me and my agent talk about,” Stanton said of trade rumors that surface. “That’s the easiest route to know legitimacy or not, so that’s pretty simple. You talk to him on what matters then get back to what I’m supposed to do.”
Stanton certainly is taking care of business this season. The two-time All-Star is hitting .295 with 21 homers, 63 RBIs and a .395 on-base percentage through 94 games.
