Miami Marlins Trade Rumors: Unlikely to Trade Giancarlo Stanton

This week, a number of Giancarlo Stanton trade rumors came out thanks to the information that the Miami Marlins would listen to offers for the young star outfielder. But Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports suggests that, after all of that trade rumor smoke, the Marlins are unlikely to stoke any more flames in that fire.

Lots of interest in #Marlins’ Stanton, but sources all but rule out a deal. One source says chances are "as close to zero as they can be."

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 2, 2013

This is quite understandable. Once again, as mentioned before, the Marlins will listen to offers on Stanton because that is simply doing their due diligence to improve the team's future. Contrary to popular belief, trading Stanton for the right package has a high probability of making the Marlins better in the future, particularly if the Fish can acquire the multiple top-10 or top-20 prospects that should be necessary for such at trade.

The problem is that no team is likely to offer such a trade, mostly due to the fact that few teams even have the resources to make such a trade happen. So when those teams come calling, the Marlins will listen, but if the offer is subpar, the team is correct to turn away those suitors.

There has been quite a bit of speculation as to which teams can even offer a deal to which the Marlins would listen. The list seems to be down to the Texas Rangers (centered around Jurickson Profar and Mike Olt), the Seattle Mariners (Mike Zunino, Taijuan Walker, and Danny Hultzen), or the Pittsburgh Pirates (Gerrit Cole and Jameson Tallion). But just in listening to some fans who have ambled onto Fish Stripes during these discussions, it seems these teams are unwilling to give away that much talent for a player of Stanton's caliber, but the Marlins should avoid settling for any offer in 2013 when they can likely get a similar deal the following season.

In the end, the Stanton situation will remain in a holding pattern at best until after 2013. When Stanton heads into his first arbitration payout, that is when Marlins fans should seriously begin expecting an impending departure.