The MLB trade rumors surrounding Giancarlo Stanton are heating up the offseason, and amid a number of teams that could land the Miami Marlins slugger, one likely destination could be emerging as the top — the Boston Red Sox.
The Marlins have reportedly been very active in shopping around their slugger, with Yahoo Sports reporting that they already had discussions with the San Francisco Giants and that a number of other teams could be angling to land Stanton.
While Stanton would be an upgrade for most teams across the league, there are a few that appear to be more interested. In a report this week, Sports Illustrated noted that the Boston Red Sox may have the most to gain by trading for Stanton.
As the report pointed out, the Red Sox still have not found a way to replace the void left when David Ortiz retired following the 2016 season. The team’s slugging percentage fell off a cliff, from a league-best .461 in 2016 to .407 last year.
In a season in which home runs were plentiful, the Red Sox had only three players who hit 20 or more, Sports Illustrated noted. Stanton would bring an immediate boost and allow the Red Sox to keep pace with the New York Yankees, who came within a hair of the World Series on a much faster than expected rebuilding process around slugger Aaron Judge.
The Red Sox would also have the requisite assets to land Stanton, though it will likely mean departing with a big name star like Mookie Betts.
Sports writers are already drooling over the possibilities of the trade and what it would mean for the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. Bleacher Report writer Zachary D. Rymer imagined what it could do for the long-standing rivalry if Stanton and Judge were to face off a number of times each season.
“It’s good enough that Major League Baseball has Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge set to go toe-to-toe in pursuit of slugging accolades for many years to come,” he wrote. “Even better would be if their rivalry were also a face-to-face affair, with Stanton and Judge on opposite sides of the long-running feud between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.”
Column: Why Giancarlo Stanton should keep saying no to Marlins’ trade ideas until he gets exactly what he wants and gets to play where he wants to play. https://t.co/P7UALu1UdK
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 21, 2017
But there is still plenty of time for the MLB rumors surrounding Giancarlo Stanton to percolate. The Miami Marlins are under no pressure to move the slugger anytime soon, and teams like the Boston Red Sox will likely have plenty of competition if they want to land him. And Stanton himself will have plenty of say in the process, with reports already saying that the Los Angeles Dodgers may be his preferred destination.
[Featured Image by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images]
