From the moment Giancarlo Stanton signed his record 13-year, $325 million contract with the Marlins, a clock began ticking:Â When would Stanton want out and when would the Marlins oblige?
The answer is: Not yet. But more Marlins craziness only brings us closer to the day.
The Marlins under owner Jeffrey Loria never disappoint. They are to stability what “Hard Knocks” is to the Queen’s English. In this year in which they actually were trying to win, the Marlins might lose 100 games. They have fired one manager (Mike Redmond) and – of all things – replaced him with the general manager (Dan Jennings), who may or may not be going back to the front office, and may or may not still have the goodwill of Loria.
That front office is expected to have a blowtorch put to it by Loria, who once again will not use a mirror to see where the problems begin but is instead expected to make sweeping changes – hat tip to the initial reporting by Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports – to address a mismatched major league roster and one of the sport’s most bereft farm systems.
This comes after part of the pitch to get Stanton to sign was a vow from the organization to finally bring stability. Instead, Stanton will be going on his eighth manager since coming up in 2010 and likely his eighth different hitting coach.
The strong belief is Loria is going to try to win again in 2016, hoping for healthy full seasons from ace Jose Fernandez (who has made just seven starts this year coming off Tommy John surgery) and Stanton (who has been out since June 26 with a fractured hamate bone).
But considering the soap opera engrossing this organization yet again, the lack of minor league talent and the absence of allegiance to anyone making money once matters go badly, how long do you think the Marlins will stick to those plans?
So the first target date for Stanton should be the 2016 trade deadline, if Miami is as bad next year as this. Or after the 2016 campaign. But it is coming.
Stanton’s agent, Joel Wolfe, chose not to comment when reached and presented with the scenario. And what does it matter what Marlins officials say? These are the wonderful folks who said all kinds of things to get the sweetheart deal for a new stadium that apparently is going to cost Miami-Dade County $2 billion in the long run.
Loria is the guy who showed up at the Carlyle Hotel one minute into free agency after the 2011 season and opened a long overcoat to reveal a Jose Reyes Marlins jersey as part of recruiting Reyes for six years at $106 million. That was part of the last huge Marlins buildup, that was mostly broken down the following offseason when Reyes, among others, were dealt away – though Loria had told Reyes to buy a nice house in Miami. Yeah, what does it matter what they say, because it is so rarely what they do?
Essentially, Stanton signed a deal he had to sign because of the $325 million payday (the largest ever in North American team sports), knowing he should not sign it because of who was offering it. Wolfe is too respected an agent not to have provided Stanton with all the potential pitfalls that had nothing to do with money. It was why the Stanton camp accepted smaller increments on the front end ($107 million over the first six years) to gain a player opt-out at that juncture and the first no-trade clause ever bestowed by Loria.
It means Stanton controls this party, and the last thing he would want to be seen doing publicly is trying to wriggle free after accepting that amount of dough. However, he was made promises about a culture of consistency being constructed around him. Instead, 2015 has been more of the same for the Marlins – more losing and more chaos. And how long will the most elite power hitter in the game want to waste his prime hoping for real change?
But there also is a question about what the Marlins could get in return, even for a player as special as Stanton. The assumption has to be a team would take on the full bulk of what’s left on the back-loaded $325 million deal that runs through his age-38 season. And Stanton has a Troy Tulowitzki-esque problem brewing – excellence, with a propensity for injury. He is a physical player who is missing huge chunks of a season for the third time in the past five years in his early 20s.
The injury history was one reason Stanton blinked and took the Marlins’ money. But it is Marlins money. Which means it comes with the Marlins. Which means start your clocks. The divorce is inevitable.