The latest regarding the Giancarlo Stanton and Boston Red Sox MLB trade rumors.
Despite their hot month of August and relative scoring outburst, the Red Sox could do much better in the power categories as they are still dead last in the American League in home runs with 130.
That, combined with the fact that the Red Sox continue to be a top three MLB franchise in payroll year after year, is why Boston is an obvious landing spot in a trade for Stanton, the Marlins slugger.
Stanton leads MLB in home runs by an 8 HR margin as he currently has 45 dingers. His 97 RBI rank third overall in MLB. Stanton is just entering his prime at 27-years-old and there are some injury concerns. However, Stanton has only played less than 100 games in a season once in his MLB career (74 games in 2015), so the tag of him as “injury prone” is a bit unwarranted.
The two main reasons why the Red Sox would not be interested in Stanton are that they already have a young star right fielder in Mookie Betts and the biggie – Stanton’s absurd contract.
Stanton is owed nearly $300 million more of a contract that could run until 2028 (he has an opt-out after the 2020 season). While the Red Sox aren’t shy about taking on big salary, they have been snake bit in the past decade when it comes to monster deals with position players in particular (Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Pablo Sandoval). It’s why they were likely scared off by the Miguel Cabrera contract at the July trade deadline, and why they are hesitant on bringing in Stanton.
The first part of this equation – the fact that Betts plays right field too – is largely a non-issue. Stanton could easily slide into the DH spot left behind by David Ortiz and he would likely be open to playing a different position on occasion (first base?) if it meant playing for a winner (Stanton has a no-trade clause).
The hold-up will obviously be the money, but should we really act like the Red Sox can’t handle this type of deal?
The Los Angeles Dodgers began the season with a payroll of $242 million. The Red Sox had the third highest Opening Day payroll in the Majors at $199 million. Despite starting the season paying over $40 million more than the Yankees (No. 2 on the list at $201 million) and Sox, the Dodgers then went ahead and added another big contract at the trade deadline in Yu Darvish. The wild spending paid off for the Dodgers, as they currently have an MLB-leading 88 wins. No other team in baseball has reached the 80-mark yet.
