Giancarlo Stanton’s time with the Miami Marlins has been filled with losing baseball, and one semi-successful season might not be enough to keep him in Florida.
The 24-year-old slugger is enjoying the best individual season of his career. If he can help the Marlins — who still are alive in the National League playoff race — he might be in position to win the NL MVP award.
However, it’s been a bumpy ride for much of Stanton’s career with the Marlins. If they’re unable to prove they can build a consistent winner, it sounds like Stanton would be willing to move on from the only team he’s known — no matter how this relatively upstart season ends.
“Five months doesn’t change five years,” he told Yahoo! Sports on Monday.
Stanton is eligible to become a free agent in two years, and he’ll likely receive an enormous contract. He’ll be entering his prime (a scary thought given his success to this point), and his raw power is a valued commodity in today’s game. The Marlins’ current ownership has a history of being unwilling to pay big money for long-term contracts, which all are big reasons why Stanton’s name comes up in plenty of trade discussions, real or hypothetical.
No matter where Stanton might end up, it’s clear he wants to be somewhere that will ensure he’s playing meaningful baseball for a long time.
“We’ve definitely done better than anyone thought we would do,” Stanton told Yahoo. “At the same time, we’re still not where we need to be to keep playing beyond the designed schedule. … I want to be the only game on TV at the end of the day.
“We’re definitely in a positive direction. But we have a month to go to make the playoffs.”
If Miami misses the playoffs again, it’s safe to assume it won’t help attempts to re-sign Stanton to a long-term deal. The Marlins reportedly will make a push at doing so this winter, but CBS Sports reported earlier this month that the team isn’t optimistic.
