Four Teams Inquire About Stanton

Giancarlo Stanton might be on the move this offseason. That is, if a team is willing to take on his massive contract.

So far this offseason, the Marlins have seemed to make it a priority to move Stanton and get rid of his contract and get a lot in return.

Sporting News and MLB Network is reporting that four teams have reached out to the Marlins about Stanton and those teams are the Red Sox, Cardinals, Giants, and Phillies, though talks will not go deeper until after the GM Meetings on Monday in Orlando.

The leading getter seems to be the Phillies, who have ramped up talks and are the most likely team to take on his 13-year, $325 million contract.

The Red Sox are interested primarily because they need another slugger. Sox owner John Henry and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski did say at the beginning of the month the team is willing to increase its payroll in an effort to get more hitting and if that means going after Stanton, then so be it.

The other two seem to be further down the list, as the Giants really can't take on that much money in an offseason where they're trying to give money to other players to rebuild their team. The Cardinals are also a good fit but I'm not sure they're willing to take on that much money either. The Cardinals can win on low payroll. We've seen it happen on many of their World Series teams.

In terms of who should land Stanton, I would not want him on the Giants, just because I'm afraid they'll still do poorly with him in the lineup. The Cardinals I could give or take. The Red Sox intrigue me just because of that increased payroll they are willing to do. And that leaves the Phillies, who I believe are likely to get them, though I can't understand why.

The Phillies have been in rebuild mode for the past couple of years. Yes, they've got young and upcoming players but what does the Phillies brass think they're getting by bringing in Stanton? Maybe more power, but the rest of the lineup has to contribute as well and at times last year, they really haven't. I'm okay if the Phillies get him, but because they are rebuilding, is it really worth the effort to go after Stanton, a guy whose contract makes teams second-guess getting him?

I really like Giancarlo Stanton. He's a great power hitter and a good defensive player, but he also fetches a large price and that's why he got so much money from the Marlins. He could be traded this offseason but I will not be surprised if he doesn't. Money plays into all these decisions and the other teams could very well pull out if they don't like what the Marlins are asking for in return.

Josh Beckett Arrested In Texas

Josh Beckett had a spectacular Major League career. Now, he's facing another fight that looks bad on him.

Beckett was reportedly arrested for public intoxication in Texas after allegedly attacking the singer of a country band at a Texas club.

According to TMZ Sports, officers had arrived on scene and made a determination that the 2003 World Series MVP was "a danger to himself and to others."

The country singer that Beckett attacked is suffering from serious injuries, one of those injuries being a torn rotator cuff, which we usually hear in baseball, not so much from attacking a guy in a club.

Beckett's lawyer told TMZ Sports that this incident was "an act of horseplay" and that Beckett has apologized for his actions. Well, unfortunately, his actions might cost him in this particular one.

Beckett was a tremendous force in MLB for 14 years with the Marlins, Red Sox, and Dodgers before retiring after the 2014 season. He won two World Series, one with the Marlins and another with the Red Sox and was the MVP during the 2003 season when the Marlins won it. Not only that, but he has three All-Star Game selections and two championships.

But this resume might not help him in this next chapter of his life, particularly a black one. I'm not going to go into details about what's going to happen or what might happen. That's up to the courts, but this incident really troubles me on some levels, because horseplay and attacking somebody sometimes go hand-in-hand. You might mean it as horseplay but for the other guy it's an attack. There's no eye-to-eye there unfortunately.

I hope this situation gets resolved with quickly because Josh Beckett shouldn't be in situations like this and I hope it's resolved before it gets any worse.Josh

Will J.D. Martinez Get A Contract He Likes?

J.D. Martinez, who turned out to be a big addition for the Dbacks on their way to the playoffs, is now on the free agent market and is looking to cash in big time.

There's no doubt that Martinez is probably the best outfield get in baseball and he wants to get paid big time for it.

According to MLB's Jerry Carsick and Martinez's agent Scott Boras, Martinez is looking for something in the $200 million range that he wants to get paid, either by the Dbacks or by a new team that must want to pay him that money.

Teams that have reached out early on J.D. Martinez have gotten the impression Scott Boras is looking for something in the $200 million range.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) November 8, 2017

Boras is not joking on this one. He believes Martinez is worth that money and said earlier that free agent pitcher Jake Arrieta has a better track record as a pitcher than Max Scherzer, David Price, and Zack Greinke, who all signed contracts that were more than $200 million.

Another free agent player, Eric Hosmer, is also represented by Boras and he is also looking for something around $200 million. Sounds to me like Boras is trying to get these teams to pay up for high-quality players, though I don't believe that Martinez is a higher quality player than either Hosmer or the pitchers that I mentioned earlier.

Boras seems to be suggesting that the Dbacks may be the best get to sign him to that much money, saying, "You don't sign Greinke and not sign this guy...I mean, once you drop in the pool, you're in the water. Once you're in the water, it's kind of hard to say you're not wet."

Ok. I'll be honest, this is one of the weirdest ways to say that Martinez is a valuable member of this franchise. But, if I get what Boras is saying, he's basically saying that Martinez is worth the risk of $200 million for the Dbacks. The question is: Are the Dbacks really going to sign him to that much money? Because if they do, they might not have enough to sign other quality players they may be looking at as well.

It may be worth it, considering that the last four seasons, Martinez has slugged around .545 or better. His .574 slugging percentage is ranked 2nd in the MLB, behind only my hero on the Angels Mike Trout. And by the way, there are eight position players in the MLB that were given big contracts of equal to or more than $200 million over their careers, and they include names like Giancarlo Stanton, Alex Rodriguez, and Joey Votto. Only one name was worth it among these three and that was A-Rod. Stanton's team is not producing and Votto is still not the All-Star player the Reds expected him to be.

So the question is: Will Martinez get the $200 million that Boras is looking for? No. Absolutely not. He's probably not worth $200 million and not for a guy who has trouble in the right field area. He's worth it as a hitter, which is why I believe he could end back up in the American League, where he was with the Tigers all those years. But I don't think he's worth $200 million and I think Boras may be overlooking the value for Martinez. Yes, I agree he's a terrific player and a team will be lucky to have him, but his defense and his field play is one of the things I worry about with Martinez, and that will probably stray teams away from signing him to that much money.

I don't think he's getting $200 million and if that's the case, the Dbacks will not bring him back. They have to move on if his agent is demanding that sort of money. The Dbacks don't have that kind of money. The Dodgers and the Yankees are more likely to have that money to use that the Dbacks do. The Dbacks are a good team but they're also a budget-minded team and signing him to this kind of deal signifies that if he's a bust, they might not be good again this year. The Dbacks have something going, but the last year thing they did is to take a big risk on somebody who could have a bunch of bad years ahead. No, unfortunately, he's not worth it. He's going to end up somewhere else and it's going to be a contract that's a lot smaller than $200 million. It's just not going to happen. It's not worth the efforts and teams understand that.