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The Miami Marlins stayed put in this year's MLB trade deadline, making nary a move to improve the team's long-term chances of winning. While there was some expectation that the Fish might deal bullpen arms or veteran players on one-year contracts, in the end no team bit hard enough on a Marlins player.
That does not mean that teams did not ask, especially about star slugger Giancarlo Stanton. In particular, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said that the Pittsburgh Pirates put up a "substantial offer" for Stanton today.
The Pirates made repeated attempts to work a deal for Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton and made a significant offer that caught the attention of the Marlins' front office. However, Miami's owner did not want to shed the team's lone star
Remember when the Pirates came up as potential trade partners for the Fish, based on that David Schoenfield article? If the Pirates really made an offer that caught the team's eyes, it would almost certainly have to start like Schoenfield's offer of Jameson Taillon and Gregory Polanco, with perhaps even much more than that. At the time, I said that Gerrit Cole would be a must at this point, and I contend that Cole and Taillon would still be a necessity for such a deal given the extra year of service time for Stanton. Having said that, I imagine the Fish would have perhaps turned their heads with an offer of Taillon and Polanco, because those are big prospect names.
But Miami has also insisted that they have a chance at signing Stanton to a long-term contract this offseason, and trading him now would obviously have precluded that. The Fish are far less likely to send him packing even this offseason, when his trade value would likely be at its highest. Miami wants to keep Stanton around, at least until they hear him reject an extension.
For what it's worth, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald later tweeted that the Pirates were not among the teams that made offers for Stanton.
Source: the #Marlins received many offers for Giancarlo Stanton, but NOT ONE from the Pittsburgh Pirates
— clarkspencer (@clarkspencer) August 1, 2013
Whatever happened, the obvious is true: Stanton is still a Miami Marlin. And that is a good thing.