Is Giancarlo Stanton the Answer?

I guess that really depends on the question.

The baseball off-season is in full swing, and that means everyone hanging on every rumor to see how their favorite team will try to improve. Some years it’s by a big trade. Sometimes it’s a splashy free agent acquisition. Some years it’s both. While this year’s hot stove season has started slowly, it doesn’t mean there aren’t some big names being floated about.

The biggest name is almost definitely Giancarlo Stanton, the NL MVP. When Marlins ownership declared that they wished to trim payroll, the bidding war on twitter went crazy. (We’ll ignore the fact that shedding Stanton is a terrible idea for the Marlins) Should the Red Sox try and get Stanton? What should they give up?

Unfortunately, the easy question is the most useless. Would the Red Sox be better in 2107 with Stanton on the team? Yes. Absolutley. If you replaced one of the Red Sox outfielders with Stanton, any outfielder, the Sox improve. If you slide him in as a full-time DH the Sox improve. But, that doesn’t address the meat of the question.

Which outfielder does he replace? Does anyone else have to go? Does that cripple the team for years to come? 

Because it’s about the amount of improvement. I’ll assume that trading for Stanton means he’s a full-time outfielder. You don’t use that much money on a DH. His WAR during his monster season last year was 7.6. Assuming he replaces Bradley or Benintendi, that’s about a 4 WAR improvement. But that’s only if you lose one of them. If you had to deal both, or one of them plus Xander…suddenly it’s almost a wash. So, if you can do, say, JBJ and some prospects, it makes sense from a talent perspective. That improves the team in Boston. Otherwise, it’s probably not worth the exchange. Remember, this team is coming off two straight division titles. It’s not like they have holes in every area, or a bunch of useless parts to deal away. 

That leaves the salary aspect. It’s huge. I will always say I don’t care how much of his money John Henry spends. As long as it doesn’t hurt the team elsewhere. If trading for Stanton means they lose Betts and Bogaerts, that’s a problem. So, even if the asking price is just Bradley and minor leaguers, I need to know what his contract stops the Sox from doing.

Plus, there are other options. JD Martinez is a free agent. His numbers are really just about as good as Stanton’s. Plus, since he’s a free agent, he wouldn’t cost any players to get him. It would require a deal of some sort to free up an outfield spot…but that would allow you to fill another need. The rest is just a lot of cash. I mean, a lot of cash to be sure. But, just cash. And, less cash than Stanton. So, that’s actually pretty attractive.

With either of those options, you still need to replace Mitch Moreland. What if, then, you just replaced him with a better option? If you signed, say, Eric Hosmer, you’d double Moreland’s WAR from last year. You could also keep the outfield intact. And, it would cost you significantly less money than either Martinez or Stanton. You could then use the extra money to extend the players you currently have on your team.

My heart? It tells me to trade for Stanton, and sign Martinez to DH. Then go into next season throwing out a budget-busting line-up of Benintendi-Bogaerts-Betts-Stanton-Martinez-Ramirez-Devers-Pedroia-Vazquez.

My head? Probably the best answer is the Hosmer type signing. You can make up half the benefit of Stanton at much less than half the money.

The compromise? Probably the Martinez option.

In reality, trading for Stanton wouldn’t be a very smart idea at all.

I hate that.

What do you think?