Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton was "so motivated to give his team the financial flexibility to win now, he agreed to a heavily backloaded contract structure" that will pay him just $30M over the first three seasons of a 13-year, $325M deal, according to a source cited by Jayson Stark of ESPN.com. A source said that Stanton's salaries over those first three seasons will be only $6.5M in '15, $9M in '16 and $14.5M in '17, "far less than he could have earned through arbitration" in '15 and '16 and then via free agency. The Marlins would be "on the hook for only" $107M of the deal over the first six seasons, when his opt-out clause kicks in. If the club does not use that flexibility to "add the pieces to build a contender, he could walk away and become a free agent again at age 31" (ESPN.com, 11/18). Stanton’s agent Joel Wolfe said that his client "agreed to take a salary well below market value for the next three seasons because he wants to win and wants the Marlins to have enough money to augment the roster." In Miami, Barry Jackson cited sources as saying that the Marlins "plan to dramatically increase payroll by year four of the contract, when Stanton’s salary skyrockets." Sources said that Marlins Owner Jeffrey Loria "pitched Stanton and gave him specific details about Loria’s plan to improve the team" during a meeting in L.A. in the past month. The plan is to increase payroll to more than $100M by '18 by "using the money from what they expect will be a much more lucrative local TV deal" (MIAMIHERALD.com, 11/18).
A WIN FOR ALL PARTIES: ESPN.com's Stark wrote, "The more I look at the contract, the terms, the franchise, the player and the history of players like [Stanton], the more sense it starts making. Seriously." Stark: "What choice did the Marlins have? They had to do this. ... Imagine the bludgeoning [Loria] would have taken for being too cheap to keep his latest 'franchise player.'" Stark added, "We can't say he's wrong to pay this guy and keep this guy, and also say he'd have been just as wrong not to pay him and not to keep him" (ESPN.com, 11/18). In Ft. Lauderdale, David Hyde wrote this is an "incredibly creative deal and both sides deserve credit for getting this done." It is "friendly to the Marlins in building a team, guarantees Stanton will make obscene money and have the chance to play on a winner -- and could mean Loria could sell the franchise in a few years at a healthy price" (SUN-SENTINEL.com, 11/18). But MLB Network's Chris Rose said the deal shows the Marlins "don’t trust themselves." Rose: "They are almost begging Stanton to take the opt-out after the first six years. ... If he hasn’t won by then and he’s frustrated, essentially you’re kicking him out the door without putting a foot in his booty. You are forcing him to leave you, and that way that doesn’t make you look bad. It’s a really weird way to construct a contract in my opinion” (“Intentional Talk,” MLB Network, 11/18). CBSSPORTS.com's Matt Snyder wrote he feels Loria is "desperately hoping Stanton will opt out of the deal -- or simply will be content to sell the team in the next six years -- but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here" (CBSSPORTS.com, 11/18).
MAKING A MAJOR MISTAKE: ESPN’s Adnan Virk said Stanton's contract is the “most ridiculous deal not only in baseball history, but in the history of professional sports.” Virk said baseball owners, “drunk on local revenue, think that this is somehow acceptable business practice to give one player … gargantuan amounts of money that dwarf the dollars given in every other major North American sport.” The Marlins, “under the stewardship of Jeffrey Loria and David Samson, are as thoroughly loathsome a franchise as exists in this country” (“Olbermann,” ESPN2, 11/19).
