Philadelphia Phillies Trade Rumors: Could they trade for Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton?

The Philadelphia Phillies have a ton of payroll flexibility in the coming years. Could they use that to acquire Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich from the Miami Marlins?

Yes, payroll flexibility is a nice thing to have, even in a sport like baseball with no salary cap. The Philadelphia Phillies are going to have that flexibility working to their advantage as their rebuild continues. The only contract they are comitted to in 2018 is for Odubel Herrera. Everyone else is either a free agent, arbitration eligible or can have their contract renewed.

The Miami Marlins are going to be going through a transition after their sale to whatever ownership group is finally decided on.

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Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal on his Facebook page broke down why the two teams can help each other out and make a splashy deal for not only Christian Yelich, but also star slugger Giancarlo Stanton

"The concept was this: Marlins outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich to the Phillies, with the Phillies absorbing the remainder of the two contracts — Stanton’s monster deal through 2027 (he can opt out after ‘20) and Yelich’s below-market deal through 2021.A potential $339.5 million, for those keeping score — a massive sum that surely would have limited the Marlins’ prospect return if the conversations ever got started, which, according to sources, they did not.The Phils kicked around the concept internally, sources said. Their only commitment for 2018 is outfielder Odubel Herrera at $3.35 million, giving them the flexibility to acquire virtually any high-priced player they want. But they have not — repeat, not — expressed interest in Stanton, according to high-ranking officials with both clubs.Yelich? Different story.The Phillies, according to one source, have been “vocal” about their desire to land Yelich, even expressing an interest to assume “bad money” — say, reliever Junichi Tazawa’s $7 million in 2018, for starters — as part of the deal."

I have to admit, the first time I read through his post, I had to read it a couple of times, just because of the potential bombshell that would be.

The match makes a ton of sense, even if they have to take Tazawa too. The Philadelphia Phillies have all sorts of prospects to help the Marlins rebuild yet again, including outfielders like Nick Williams and Roman Quinn.

An outfield of Yelich, Herrera and Stanton would be a nice building block for the Phillies moving forward to go with their young pitching while they’d still be able to retain flexibility to fill other pieces on their roster.

Next: NL East Trade Deadline Preview

However, I cant imagine a big move made by either outgoing ownership or new ownership would involve trading their biggest star in Stanton to a divisional rival. Martin Prado sure, but sending Stanton up the coast and having him come in and bash your pitching staff in 19 times a year (and let’s face it, Stanton totally would) would be a tough pill for a fan base to swallow.

The outgoing ownership group would be undermining their own sale in making such a trade, getting rid of one of the team’s best reasons to come to the park, while the new ownership group would be forfeiting any goodwill they have right out of the gate.

I don’t think Stanton is long for the Marlins. However, Stanton in a Phillies uniform isn’t in the cards.