SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Giancarlo Stanton has ruled out the San Francisco Giants. St. Louis, too.
The Giants announced Friday they were no longer in the mix to work out a trade for the Marlins slugger and NL MVP after having reached the parameters of a deal with new Miami CEO Derek Jeter and his team.
“Our agreement with the Marlins to acquire Giancarlo Stanton subject to his waiving of the no-trade clause will not move forward and it is our understanding that the Marlins and Stanton are exploring other options.”
The Cardinals also said Stanton had declined to accept a deal to St. Louis.
So, the Stanton sweepstakes continues for now - with baseball’s winter meetings set to begin Monday in Orlando, Florida. Meanwhile, in the other major story of this offseason so far, Japanese pitcher and outfielder Shohei Ohtani chose the Angels on Friday.
Stanton must sign off on any move given the full no-trade clause in his record $325 million, 13-year contract. He is due to make $25 million in 2018 after the 28-year-old outfielder led the majors with 59 home runs and 132 RBIs this season.
“We had an agreement to acquire Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins, subject to him waiving his no-trade clause,” Cardinals Chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. said. “While we are disappointed in his decision, we will continue to make every effort to improve our club for the upcoming season.”
San Francisco and St. Louis had been considered among the favorites to acquire Stanton, whose affinity and ties to Los Angeles also made the Dodgers a top destination - not to mention their five straight NL West titles and runner-up World Series finish.
The eight-year veteran has never played on a winning team, and Stanton has said he didn’t want to endure another rebuilding of the Miami roster as Jeter works to cut payroll. On Thursday, the Marlins traded second baseman Dee Gordon to Seattle as the Mariners also acquired $1 million in international bonus pool allocation to make what was their unsuccessful push for Ohtani.
On Wednesday, Giants general manager Bobby Evans confirmed on San Francisco’s flagship radio station KNBR that the club reached agreement on a potential trade for Stanton after team executives gathered with the outfielder and his representatives in “a good meeting” last week.
Evans’ comments came a day after Jeter said Miami was yet to decide whether to trade Stanton.
San Francisco, which won World Series titles in 2010, ’12 and ’14, is coming off a surprising last-place finish in the NL West at 64-98 to avoid the club’s first 100-loss season since 1985.
“He’s obviously passionate about winning, he’s passionate about the game and really presented himself extremely well,” Evans said. “He had a lot of questions for us and I thought our meeting went well. But again it’s a tough decision for him. He may take a lot of time before he’s ready to make that call.”
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