Marlins Trade Rumors: Marlins receive two offers for Giancarlo Stanton, more on the horizon

Back with the latest and greatest on the Stanton sweepstakes. Hurtling on a crash course with winter, trade talk is solidifying into real, coherent offers. Unsurprisingly, the two main principals long-rumored to be involved with Miami’s slugger are the first ones to have issued firm trade proposals.

That would be the St. Louis Cardinals...

...and the San Francisco Giants.

The Cardinals have long been seen as the best fit for a potential deal, from the ability to include prospects and take on cash, to the means of providing a “winning culture” that Stanton has long craved.

Details remain scant at this time of what exactly is on the table, but at least one national personality claims to have the scoop one one name:

Sandy Alcantara is a tall, hard-throwing (can hit 100 MPH), 22-year-old righthander. After four years in the minors putting up pretty good strikeout numbers, he earned a cup of coffee in the Cardinals bullpen this past season, jumping up directly from AA. In eight games coming out of the pen, he displayed that his strikeout stuff will translate to the majors, averaging 98.4 MPH on his fastball during his short 2017 campaign. His arsenal also includes a power curve/slider and a changeup that has potential as a devastating secondary weapon.

As always with young fireballers, control is an issue, but if he can reduce his walk rate as he ages and fills out his frame, the Marlins could be looking at at potential ace here. At worst, they would probably have a frustrating at times/scintillating at times middle of the rotation piece. Alcantara was listed as the Cardinals’ number nine prospect in MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 to start the 2017 season.

The full details of the Giants offer, being a day older, are available in full if they are to be believed...and of course, trades are a fluid, back and forth process with different names being tossed around. That being said, this is thought to be the initial offer from San Francisco. Mish again:

Joe Panik has been in the majors for parts of three seasons. I was first introduced to his existence in 2014 when visiting AT&T Park for the first time. The lady seated in front of us, a boisterous fan with a out-of-place Bostonian accent (“Let’s go joy-ents!”), would scream Panik’s last name at the top of her lungs every time he was involved in a play or up at the dish, making me glad we were in a large, spacious ballpark rather than an insulated movie theater.

He was good that year, and great the next season, accumulating 4.0 fWAR on the strength of a .317/.378/.455 triple slash line. He fell back to earth in 2016 offensively but was excellent in the field, capturing a gold glove for his efforts. In 2017 he put it back together at the plate enough to end up with a respectable 2.0 fWAR.

Projected to make roughly $3.5 million in 2018, the Marlins would have him under team control through his age 29 season.

Tyler Beede is a 6’3 righty who was the Giants’ first round selection (14 overall) in the 2014 draft. Much like Alcantara, he has strikeout stuff and top of the rotation potential but will need a little time to put the control together to be good/great in the majors. He seems to be heading in that direction. Beede was the Giants’ number three rated prospect in the MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 to start 2017.

Chris Shaw came into 2017 as the number two Giants prospect on the aforementioned MLB Pipeline list. He is a 24-year-old left fielder who’s best tool is his left-handed power which he uses to mash balls to all parts of the field. While he plays in the outfield, he is not the quickest guy and his range is sub-par, leading most to believe he’ll end up at his natural position at first base.

Now obviously, Alcantara is a desirable piece, but without knowing much more about the total package it’s hard to say whether or not the deal with St. Louis is any good.

The SF deal is...well, it’s interesting. I like the notion of attempting to partially replace Stanton’s power with Shaw and/or have a suitable replacement for Justin Bour waiting in the wings should the latter be on the move, and any mention of a starting pitching prospect that has top of the rotation potential should make Marlins’ fans happy, but Joe Panik seems...redundant to me.

I know, the Marlins are giving up Gordon as well in this scenario, and maybe I’m downplaying Panik’s overall potential here, but the Fish already have a light-hitting plus defender in Miguel Rojas, if that’s all they’re looking for out of the position (not to mention Derek Dietrich, who will never be a gold glove contender but is not a total disaster in the infield, either). If they ended up going this route, I would presume it was because the Dee Gordon market had dried up and they were simply looking for an exit from his contract at that point.

Of course, the palatability of any deal for Marlins brass is going to be primarily based upon how much of Stanton’s contract they can foist upon the receiving team, and if the Giants are willing to take on most if not all, that package looks pretty good.

They don’t have to accept anything straight away though, because the Cardinals and the Giants aren’t the only team playing the Stanton sweepstakes.

We can expect the Boston Red Sox to come in with an offer at some point. The Philadelphia Phillies. The New York Yankees and the Marlins have discussed the subject, naturally. Before this reaches the end, over a third of teams in the game will have talked with Jeter about the possibility of acquiring Stanton, the initial asking price apparently not scaring away teams from at least broaching the topic.

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, though. When the reigning MVP is the subject of trade talks, you can expect that kind of action.