Are 6+ years of Whitley (plus whatever else) worth 3 years of Stanton (don't know when he can opt-out, but he will)?
Whitley would not be involved whatsoever unless Miami would be willing to pay for a hefty remainder of the contract (which they aren't).
With those teams being smart, Marlins are likely going to have to take on a significant chunk of the opt out risk (i.e., pay a significant portion of salary after opt out). Yankees are likely out trying to reset luxury tax. Dodgers....they are deep in the luxury tax territory. Not sure how much his salary would be for them, but I'm guessing they would have to pay at least 50% more than Astros with taxes. If I was Luhnow, at a minimum, Marlins would have to agree to pay half salary after opt out (105 MM). He opts out, they pay nothing. He becomes a shell of himself, Marlins on hook still for half. Rumor has it Giants wanted 50MM paid, but not competing with them. Prospects in rumored Giants deal were probably Fringe Top 100 to Top 200 prospects. No Whitley. No Tucker. Astros would likely need to trade McHugh and Gattis at a minimum to make budget work, but would likely be done in a separate deal to try to replace a prospect or two dealt for Stanton.
Greedy me says cash in now. But long term me is very scared of the pitching staff in 2-3 years. Screw it. I’m all in.
I don’t want Stanton because of extension ramifications with Correa, Altuve and others but.... Can you imagine our outfield with Stanton, Springer, Reddick And the lineup, essentially putting Marwin as utility and primary DH That would be sick
Springer Bregman Altuve Correa Stanton Reddick Gurriel Gonzalez McCann With Gattis, Fisher, Marisnick, Moran? Off bench That’s stupid
Who is greedier though? The one’s who want to trade for Stanton or the ones who don’t? Count me easily in the former regardless. It’s all gravy to me now. That lineup with 5 Mike Fiers would still have a shot at rings.
LOL Stanton says f**k that losing, I want to win now. I'm OK with going after him if it doesn't stop us from signing Altuve long term. I've always felt keeping Correa was a 50/50 prospect at best, regardless of circumstance.
That seals it...he's definitely signing with the Padres. I'd be OK with Seattle, they don't have the big-picture finances that Dallas or Anaheim do. Would be wonderful to go watch him in SF. As a hitter, he's built for that park.
Putting together the package I think is closest to what was rumored to be San Francisco’s accepted offer: Martes Reed Celestino Davis I think SF was requiring Miami to eat $50M. I’d take that deal in a heartbeat.
Martes is likely a lot better than anyone in the SF deal. Astros are not competing with SF, and there is no way Astros take on the same amount of money as the Giants after the opt out. If Astros trade for Stanton, it will likely be better prospects than SF offered, but with a ton of money after the opt out that is only paid if he opts in to mitigate the chance that the contract turns into an albatross.
Arroyo is a good prospect, Mlb.com has him in the middle of the Top 100 with a 55 grade. That’s about where Martes would fall. The other 3 Giants prospects listed (Shaw, Beede, Ramos) were grade 50 guys. I agree that if Houston were to acquire Stanton Miami would have to eat more than $50M. I’m not sure if deals can be structured with money changing hands based on a player’s opt-out decision years down the road, which may complicate things. It looks like Miami’s primary goal is shedding salary, they would need to be willing to budge on that some in order to get a deal done with a team Stanton is willing to accept.
According to several reports this morning, the Astros are one of just a few teams that Stanton (at this time) is willing to wave his no-trade clause for.