If the Miami Marlins’ sending Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees for Starlin Castro and two boxes of Mike and Ikes past their sell-by date truly wasn’t an inside-job plot on the part of Marlins CEO Derek Jeter to send the slugger to his former team, then it was instead a piece of horrendous front-officing.
Determined to unload the reigning National League MVP with a salary almost as gargantuan as his power numbers, the team apparently threatened Stanton, who’s armed with a no-trade clause, to accept one of the trade offers sent their way by the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants.
The backstory of the Giancarlo Stanton trade is bonkers. Miami threatened that if he didn’t accept a trade to St. Louis or San Francisco, he would be a Marlin for life. He called their bluff. And because of it, he’s a New York Yankee.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 11, 2017
Pretty embarrassing for Jeter, who assumed his position as Marlins CEO and co-owner this summer, right? It gets worse.
Stanton described his former organization as “unprofessional” and a “circus” in an Instagram post on Monday.
Later on Monday, during his introductory press conference, the 28-year-old did more to expose the Marlins for the dumpster fire they are.
Giancarlo Stanton on the Marlins: “You guys in the media have seen how it goes down there. No structure. No direction.”
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) December 11, 2017
Stanton on his message to Marlins fans: “I would say to hang in there. They’re going to go through some more tough years. … Maybe watch from afar if you’re going to watch.”
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) December 11, 2017
Giancarlo Stanton said he gave his list of teams to the Marlins in advance, but the team went out and negotiated deals with the Giants and Cardinals anyway. While he was willing to listen to the pitches, he pretty much knew he didn’t want to go to those clubs.
— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) December 11, 2017
Giancarlo Stanton said he told Derek Jeter he didn’t want to be part of a rebuild. “I wanted us to go forward and advance with the pitching staff. I thought our lineup was legit … we needed to add rather than subtract. The way they wanted to go was subtract.”
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) December 11, 2017
Not a great start to Jeter’s next career.
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