There have been reports for a while now that BC really has his eyes on Stanton. Just a day or 2 ago it was let out that we would give up whatever it takes to land him from Miami. I'm wondering what everyone's opinion on the matter is and if I'm the only one who honestly doesn't want us to make that move.
Now, let me preface this by saying that Stanton is awesome at baseball. He plays good defense and is a complete monster with the bat. He's only 23 and is already a beast of a power hitter.
My misgivings are as follows:
Xander- I have a hard time believing that any deal for Giancarlo wouldn't require us to throw in Bogaerts. Xander very well may be the best prospect in baseball and is a 20 year old SS who's already tearing up AAA and has MVP potential. MVP potential that we'd have under control for 6 years at a low price. We've spent a decade looking for our next SS and we've finally found a guy who can perhaps be the next Nomar.
Young Pitching- The Marlins have a whole slew of outfield and infield prospects that have good potential. What that means is that Miami might be less interested in guys like Garin or JBJ and will want to pilfer 3-4 of our top pitching talent such as Webster, Barnes, Ranaudo, Owens, or RDLR. The Red Sox have never hurt for offense and, although awesome, Stanton is a corner OF'er with some injury history. I don't think it'll be extremely hard to find good production from that spot for a fraction of what Stanton would cost. I don't think we should rape our farm of all the young pitching we have. Good, young pitching is much harder to find than slugging outfielders and I don't want to trade away a huge chunk of the great young arms we've spent years putting together to fill a position that I don't really think is a pressing need.
Years and Dollars: If we pulled of a deal this offseason, it'd give us 3 years of Stanton's services. After those 3 years he would hit the FA market and there are 2 things that could happen. We either pay out the ass in terms of years and dollars, which we know from experience is a gigantic risk. Or he signs somewhere else and we've just gutted the youth movement for 3 years of Stanton.
In closing, I'd love to have Giancarlo in a Sox uniform but at that price with the risk that comes with him, I'd say pass. Even if we are able to resign him, it's going to require a contract of Pujols/Fielder proportions and that's going to tie up a gigantic chunk of payroll for years to come. To get long term benefit from a deal, it'd cost not just the farm but also more than 200 million dollars. I think I'd rather hold onto the kids and work towards building a team who's core consists of homegrown talent that's young, cheap, and productive leaving us money to spend on extensions or on areas of need.
So, what does everyone else think? Hold onto the kids or do whatever it takes for Giancarlo?
