The San Francisco Giants swung and missed with their pursuit of Giancarlo Stanton. Does this failed attempt leave any long-term problems?
Giancarlo Stanton was perhaps the most coveted player in the whirlwind offseason. At times, it seemed like the entire free agency market hinged on where the former Marlins outfielder would be moved to. So when rumors surfaced today of a San Francisco Giants offer for Giancarlo Stanton after knowing what the return for him was from the New York Yankees, it confused many baseball fans, including myself.
The players rumored to be involved were pitcher Andrew Suarez, third baseman Jacob Gonzalez, and former San Francisco Giants outfielder Denard Span, who was later traded to the Rays for third baseman Evan Longoria.
The San Francisco Giants reportedly also were willing to take on Giancarlo Stanton’s full contract, which would have helped sweeten the deal. However, this seems like a relatively bad package for the 2017 NL MVP winner.
Sources: #SFGiants' actual offer in the offseason to the #Marlins in exchange for Giancarlo Stanton: LHP Andrew Suarez, 3B Jacob Gonzalez and OF Denard Span. https://t.co/4NPVcbyK3N
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) April 16, 2018
While Andrew Suarez has shown promise through his minor league career, his limited major league stints have left much to be desired. Through 349.1 innings in the minors, Suarez has posted a WHIP of 1.27, which is great for such a large sample size. In that time he has also struck out 307 batters, making him a decent prospect for the future.
Jacob Gonzalez has a much smaller sample size overall but showed talent in the draft process. He is also the son of five-time all-star and World Series champion Luis Gonzalez, who very memorably hit a walk-off single for the Diamondbacks to win Game 7 in 2001.
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The centerpiece of the trade, Denard Span, had a down year for the San Francisco Giants, having a career low -1.1 WAR in 2017 while still making eleven million dollars.
So what would have incentivized the Marlins to make this deal? With no big name prospects in the trade, the only thing that this deal had going for the San Francisco Giants was their willingness to take on Giancarlo Stanton’s contract in full.
With new ownership comes new philosophies, and the new ownership of the Miami Marlins do not want to spend money. After buying the team for 1.2 billion (yes, billion with a ‘B’) dollars, it’s easy to see why this is the case. But Giancarlo Stanton being traded was only the beginning of the fire sale for the Miami Marlins, as the later traded away most of their star players.
For the San Francisco Giants, this would have been an absolute steal. Paying Giancarlo Stanton wouldn’t be too big of an issue, and he would be able to fill the seats at AT&T Park. He’d even be able to hit a few balls into the San Fransisco Bay. Unfortunately for them, the deal was vetoed early in the process by Giancarlo Stanton himself.
Next: ‘Marlins Man’ travels to ends of the earth seeking answers
He ended up on the New York Yankees and apart of a fantastic power hitting team. The San Francisco Giants ended up trading for Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen. And the Miami Marlins… well, we don’t need to talk about the Marlins.