Miami Marlins have signed Giancarlo Stanton for $325M/13 years.

Today, the Miami Marlins and Giancarlo Stanton agreed to a $325 million, 13-year contract. Stanton can opt out after six years, and he has a no-trade clause in place. Jeffrey Loria, Miami’s owner, remarks that the “landmark moment for the franchise and Giancarlo” is “for the city and fans to rally around.” Did Loria miss the memo that Miami still doesn’t care about their baseball team? Certifiably insane business deal aside, who does he think he’s kidding? If a brand new stadium – with fish tanks, folks -couldn’t draw a crowd, I don’t know that Stanton and his $150,000+ per game will. The Fish only have seven fans, and I’m pretty sure one of them is Giancarlo’s mom. Don’t kid yourself, Loria.

It’s no secret that I find these kinda of hyper-inflated contacts to be ridiculous. It’s not even the money that seems the craziest – it’s the number of years. This all started with the likes of Jayson Werth and his Boras-drawn contract with Washington. It only got worse when the Angels signed Albert Pujols for $240 million over ten years – plus a boatload of extras. Now, Giancarlo Stanton has the the largest MLB contract in history – for the time being.

Stanton just turned 25 – a lot can change between now and when he’s 38. If he’s able to tear the leather off the ball the same way 13 years from now, I’ll eat my hat, but these contacts have gotten out of control. I wonder how this makes minor leaguers feel – we’d love to have them come up, but there’s barely any payroll left. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate that Stanton is one hell of a hitter – in 2014 his numbers were .288/37/105 – but I’ve yet to see him sprout wings and fly or breathe fire. 105 RBIs or not, a commitment of $325 million until after my first grader graduates high school is ludicrous.

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Tags: Amy McGinnis, Big Baseball Deals, Giancarlo Stanton, Jeffrey Loria, Miami Marlins, MLB News