Marlins Should Trade Stanton

                                                                                                                                                                 Ned Dishman/Getty Images

The Miami Marlins are a mess. Many are projecting them to lose 100 games this season. After last year's fire sale, there are holes all over the lineup. The one shining star they have is Giancarlo Stanton. They should get rid of him, too.

The Marlins are obviously not contenders this year. Unless they have the greatest fluke season of all time, they will be out of the division race by June. The moves that the Marlins made last year are water under the bridge. The fans are still outraged, but the owner is not going to sell and the team is not going to get those players back.

The outrage can't get any worse. So, this is the perfect time to trade Stanton. Stanton is an impact player. He is the type of player that a franchise should build around. He is the type of player that teams give hundreds of millions of dollars to. If the Marlins were actually trying to win they would do this. They would give Stanton the biggest extension in the history of baseball. However, the Marlins aren't trying to win, they are trying to make money. They want to build around cheap prospects, and if the team gels into a contender at the right time, then great.

That's why it doesn't make sense for the Marlins to hold on to Stanton. He doesn't fit in with the plan. If the plan is to fill the team with highly regarded prospects every position, then why not use Stanton to fetch a boatload of prospects? This is a team starting Juan Pierre and Placido Polanco. There are still spots available for prospects in the lineup.

Teams that are expecting to make the playoffs this year might be willing to trade their whole farm system for Stanton. The haul from trading Stanton could easily bring in a young player to fill his place in right field, and flesh out the entire outfield or bullpen.

While Marlin fans would hate to see him go, there is no chance that Stanton is resigning with Miami when his contract expires. He was unsure about resigning with the Marlins before they traded the whole team to Canada, and when his contract is up, Stanton is getting on the first plane to California and never coming back.

If the Marlins aren't going anywhere this season, want to fill their team with prospects, and have a disgruntled player on the way out that other teams would pay a premium for, why not trade him? It can't get any worse.