There’s been a hint… that the Marlins would be open to a discussion on a trade of Giancarlo Stanton. So let’s see why the Braves might be interested. Or not.
Sure: it’s a nutty proposition. Why anybody would want a $300 million player. But since these days don’t exactly come up very often – kinda like once per eclipse – we’ll go through the exercise and see why the Atlanta Braves might at least give a courtesy call to whoever is actually running the Key Biscayne Fishsticks and Bait Shop this week.
But hey! Stanton is washed up now! He didn’t even hit a homer yesterday for the first time in 7 games (he only had 2 singles, scored, and stole a base). Piker.
The good news (for Stanton and the Marlins) is that he’s finally enjoying a full year of health and production. He managed a 6.3 fWAR for a full season back in 2014 but is now at 4.5 with 7 weeks to go in the season.
That’s 8th in the National League (Freddie Freeman has 3.6 with 64% of the plate appearances) in that category, 5th in OPS (1.022; Freeman is 1.049 and is 1st in the NL), and 6th in wRC+ (Freeman tied for 1st). His strikeout rate is also down notably this season. That’s all pretty good.
So this news came up on Wednesday…
Source: #Marlins are "willing to engage" with other teams on Giancarlo Stanton trade but are not involved in any serious talks -- yet. @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 16, 2017
Why should this matter to Atlanta? Well it probably shouldn’t and probably won’t, but here’s a bunch of reasons why the Braves should – and shouldn’t – at least consider such a nutty trade.