Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton has added the Yankees to the list of teams for which he would waive his no-trade clause to escape Miami, creating the tantalizing prospect of teaming the NL home run king with Aaron Judge, the AL home run king.
Yet, just like an arrest doesn’t guarantee a conviction, there are plenty of factors being ignored by those dreaming of NL MVP Stanton, who hit 59 home runs last season and has hit 267 in his eight-year career, joining Judge, last year’s AL Rookie of the Year with 52 homers, in The Bronx.
Earlier in the week, it was reported the Giants and Cardinals had presented to the Marlins the framework for deals that would keep Stanton in the NL.
Friday, however, the Cardinals and Giants released statements that said Stanton wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause to play in St. Louis or San Francisco.
The 28-year-old Stanton’s list of teams to which he would accept a deal consists of the Dodgers, Astros and Yankees.
The first hurdle to derail talk of Stanton teaming with Judge to form the “Bronx Bash Brothers’’ is money, because the Yankees have promised to get the 2018 payroll below the $197 million luxury tax threshold. Stanton is owed $295 million for the next 10 years and he can opt out following the 2020 season.
Not only would the Yankees have to find a taker, perhaps the Marlins, for Jacoby Ellsbury and the $68.3 million owed to him over three years, the $6.7 million difference for 2018 would severely dent the Yankees’ plans of bolstering the rotation.
The Post’s Joel Sherman this week projected the Yankees, with an estimated $156.17 million already committed to next year’s team, currently have roughly $25 million to spend this winter to complete the 25-man roster.
It’s possible the Yankees could trim payroll by dealing Chase Headley (one year, $13 million) and Starlin Castro (two years, $23.8 million) to make room for Stanton and a starting pitcher.
Yet, there are other factors hitched to bringing Stanton to The Bronx.
Even if the Marlins take significant money back, they aren’t likely going to settle for second-tier prospects unless the relationship between Stanton and the club is beyond repair.
Do the Yankees, who have worked tirelessly for years to rid themselves of aging players with suffocating contracts, really want to part with the jewels of a minor league system regarded as one of the best in baseball?
Remember the Yankees parted with Blake Rutherford, James Kaprielian, Dustin Fowler and Jorge Mateo to land Todd Frazier and Sonny Gray last July.
Are they ready to move the much heralded Gleyber Torres, Justus Sheffield, Clint Frazier, Chance Adams and perhaps starting center fielder Aaron Hicks for Stanton?
Stanton didn’t distinguish himself at the All-Star Game, when he quickly tired of questions about Judge and a former Marlins employee said Stanton’s leadership skills weren’t what you wanted from the best and highest paid player.
Yet nobody from the Yankees has said they don’t want Stanton, who might have thrown them into the mix in order to put pressure on his hometown Dodgers.
Could it happen? Sure. Anything is possible.
They aren’t George Steinbrenner’s money-be-damned Yankees, but they aren’t a team turning their backs on something as unique as a chance to team two of the best power hitters in the game.
Will it happen? While stranger things have happened — see Alex Rodriguez, 2004 — that is not the way to bet it today.