A quick paragraph from Boston Globe baseball writer Nick Carfardo has people buzzing once again about Giancarlo Stanton and whether or not the Phillies have a shot at landing him.
Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Marlins — Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has tried at least 10 times to pry Stanton loose, with no luck. Tough sell inside the division. But with Dan Jennings now at the helm in Miami, who knows if the Marlins would let Stanton go? Stanton would draw interest from a lot of teams, including the Tigers, Mets, Mariners, Yankees, Orioles, Angels, and Red Sox, so Jennings could get a load of top prospects.
Last month Amaro made the "about 10 times" comment (click here to read our piece last month about Amaro's comments on Stanton) admitting to his interest in the Marlins slugger. The only thing that is new about the situation is that the Marlins fired General Manager Larry Beinfest, replacing him with already-in-house Dan Jennings. Would Jennings trade Stantion? That is unknown, but certainly the Phillies will have plenty of competition if they do.
More interesting in Carfardo's piece is that the Tampa Bay Rays could trade ace pitcher David Price, who is becoming too expensive for the small market Rays. Carfardo names the Phillies as a possible suitor:
Price, who earned $10.1 million this season and is eligible for arbitration, will have no shortage of interested teams, but not every team can realistically make a deal happen. First, the team trading for Price needs to be able to make a long-term financial commitment, and second, it must to be willing to relinquish at least a couple of their top five prospects.
What teams can even entertain this? The Dodgers, Nationals, Mets, Twins, Cubs, Blue Jays, Yankees, Rangers, Angels, Giants, Mariners, Phillies, Diamondbacks, and maybe the Orioles. It’s hard to imagine the Rays would deal within their division, though if they got their bounty they may just throw caution to the wind.
Price would be a big piece for the Phillies, who have a rotation full of question marks after Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. Yes, Price would be a third lefty, but I do not think that matters when you can add pitchers of ace quality.
Stay tuned.
