Giancarlo Stanton officially rejects trades to Cardinals and Giants
The Miami Marlins are trying to trade their star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, but Stanton is fully in control of his destiny. On Friday, we learned the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants are officially out of the running after each released statements announcing Stanton’s decision to reject a proposed trade to their teams.
The first statements came from Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.
The #STLCards today issued the following statement regarding the pursuit of Giancarlo Stanton. pic.twitter.com/rZekmW2sOf
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) December 8, 2017
Here’s the statement from DeWitt:
“We had an agreement to acquire Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins, subject to him waiving his no-trade clause. We have been notified that he will not waive his no-trade clause to come to St. Louis. While we are disappointed in his decision, we will continue to make every effort to improve our club for the upcoming season.”
And here’s what Mozeliak had to say.
“Unfortunately we were not able to convince Stanton to waive his no-trade clause and join the Cardinals. We felt this was a great landing spot for him, but it was not meant to be.”
A short time later, the Giants confirmed that Stanton would not accept a trade to San Francisco.
Giants on Stanton: "Our agreement with the Marlins to acquire Giancarlo Stanton subject to his waiving of the no-trade clause will not move forward and it is our understanding that the Marlins and Stanton are exploring other options."
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) December 8, 2017
The Giants statement reads:
“Our agreement with the Marlins to acquire Giancarlo Stanton subject to his waiving of the no-trade clause will not move forward and it is our understanding that the Marlins and Stanton are exploring other options.”
While these statements make Stanton’s decision official, it was highly suspected that he would exercise his no-trade clause. In fact, on Thursday night it was reported that Stanton’s list of acceptable teams had just four names on it: the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros, and the New York Yankees.
That’s a high-octane list made up of four solid contenders. There’s the 2017 World Series winners, the 2017 World Series runners-up, the 2016 World Series winners, and the Yankees, who are always close to winning a World Series no matter what. Stanton knows what his talent is worth, and if he’s not going to be on the Marlins anymore, he doesn’t want it to go to waste. The guy wants a ring, and you can’t blame him for that.
Stanton wants to compete, and he’s not bluffing. He’s not just trying to escape Miami for any team that might not completely suck. While we don’t know for sure if that list of acceptable teams is real, rejecting the Cardinals and Giants proves at least one thing: both of those teams weren’t on his list. With the Winter Meetings happening in Orlando next week, talks are sure to heat up, and we might find out what other teams definitely aren’t on Stanton’s list — or what teams are.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – –
Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
