The Miami Marlins already are trying to lock down their man.
The team is in preliminary contract extension talks with slugger Giancarlo Stanton, per MLB.com’s Marlins beat writer Joe Frisaro. Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill told Frisaro that the team has no timeline, but they hope to get a deal done sooner rather than later.
“We haven’t given him a timeline, and I don’t want to speculate that we would allow it to go on indefinitely,” Hill said Wednesday. “But at some point, he either is going to be signed to a multiyear, or he will be signed to a one-year. We haven’t gotten to that yet. There is no deadline in place as far as the timing of things.”
Stanton has been on many club’s radars, including the Boston Red Sox’s, since his 2010 debut. The right fielder is a two-time All-Star and led the National League in home runs this season with 37. He’s eligible for free agency following the 2016 season, but the Marlins are adamant about signing him to a long-term deal and building a team around him.
Frisaro speculates that a long-term contract for Stanton would be in the five- to six-year range and would average around $30 million a season. He doesn’t believe that Stanton or the Marlins are looking for the 10-year, $300 million contract that many believe Stanton could fetch.
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