Miami stand up and give Giancarlo Stanton a round of applause.
Stanton has won the National League MVP, by a slim margin of two points over Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds in the closest vote since 1979. The influence of modern metrics is real, two guys on non-playoff teams finished first and second in the voting.
Now, Miami hold your applause, Stanton may be part of a “fire sale” trade for a Marlins team under new ownership.
The anticipation of the announcement came in the middle of Stanton being part of serious trade talks with several teams showing their interests for the slugger.
Stanton demonstrated all season long if and when healthy he will only produce, he was productive and was rewarded with baseball’s top individual honor.
Stanton got 10 first-place votes and 302 points in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Votto also got 10 firsts and had 300 points.
Miami is fortunate to have one of the best players in the game. He is charismatic, he is huge, he hits the baseball in locations major league players dream of. If he gets traded and you put him in a more competitive market, on a team that wins the World Series, a location where fans will actually come out to see him play he will draw the attendance moreover only help baseball.
Stanton is the first player in Marlins history to win an MVP award. Moreover joins Dan Marino and LeBron James as the only Miami pro athletes in a major sport to win MVP.
“That’s definitely good company,” Stanton said. “I’m glad to be stabled right next to them. One is still going and being great and one is already in the Hall of Fame, you know what he’s done. Very cool place to be.”
Stanton has not only improved he has addressed weaknesses at the plate. He had a .267 BA/.541 Slug pct vs outside pitches, a 34-point jump in BA and 100 points in slugging percentage from 2016.
He led the majors in home runs, RBI, extra-base hits and slugging percentage, each of which set a Marlins single-season record. Did the numbers benefit the Marlins as a team?
Marlins finished 77-85 a far second from the Washington Nationals in the NL East and 35-49 on the road. Stanton becomes just the seventh MVP from a losing team.
The award caps the best year of Stanton’s career and possibly the best offensive year the Marlins have ever seen. The MVP played career-high 159 games in his first season without injury since 2011.
American League winner, At 5-6, José Altuve shares the distinction as the shortest player to win an MVP award with Phil Rizzuto (1950) and Bobby Shantz (1952). At 6-6, Giancarlo Stanton becomes the tallest player in baseball history to win an MVP award. It sounds cool however along with the height is a nationwide discussion on trading the slugger.
Stanton has expressed he prefers to stay if the Marlins pitching needs are addressed.
“It needs to be thoroughly addressed, not just somewhat addressed, not just somewhat addressed. It needs to be a huge push now and a definite contending addressed matter,” Stanton stated.
A reported eight teams during the GM meetings in Orlando have engaged in trade talks with the Marlins. Stanton is only a piece of the pie when it comes to CEO Derek Jeter and the new ownership group who have to turn around a franchise that is financially struggling and has had a losing record all eight years of Stanton’s career.
Will the Marlins’ new owners trade Stanton and his $295 million contract? The reports are Jeter has not spoken to Stanton. Stanton has a no-trade clause in his deal giving him strong leverage to where he is going. Only one player in major league history was named MVP and in the same offseason: Alex Rodriguez, who was the 2003 AL MVP for the Rangers and was traded to the New York Yankees.
My prediction is Stanton will take his talents west to the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants left fielders combined for a .666 OPS in 2017. The right fielders were barely better, at .671. Stanton is the greatest possible improvement for the outfield of one of the worst teams in need of the largest jolt in the arm
