The Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals have been linked to Giancarlo Stanton lately, but if a recent report is true, then consider that rumour dead.
The Miami Marlins slugger, who holds a no-trade clause, will not accept a deal to either of those clubs, according to a source cited by Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald.
However, one destination Stanton could end up approving is his home state of California. And it turns out the Los Angeles Dodgers are in fact in the mix for the outfielder, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
The Marlins are looking to shed payroll this off-season and Stanton, who hit 59 home runs in 2017 during the best offensive season of his career, is owed $295 million over the next 10 years.
Yankees eyeing former Blue Jay for manager?
The New York Yankees have been considering plenty of candidates to fill their manager vacancy and the latest to join the fray could be former Toronto Blue Jays infielder Chris Woodward, according to Feinsand.
Woodward, who’s been third-base coach for the Dodgers for the past two seasons, seems to fit the mould of what the Yankees are searching for in a replacement to former manager Joe Girardi. The 41-year-old Woodward is young and given his time with the information-savvy Dodgers, is presumably well-versed in analytics.
He doesn’t have major-league managing experience, but was New Zealand’s skipper in a 2016 World Baseball Classic qualifier.
Woodward — who played in 12 MLB seasons, seven of which were with the Blue Jays — does not yet have an interview scheduled with the Yankees, according to Feinsand.
Twins looking at elite starting pitchers
Buoyed by a step forward in 2017 that resulted in a wild-card berth, the Minnesota Twins appear to have grand plans this off-season.
The team is targeting top-tier starters Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta, writes Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The right-handers are the top two free agent pitchers on the market and could command contracts upward of $100 million each.
Minnesota’s starting staff ranked 10th in the American League with a 4.73 ERA this past season. The Twins won 85 games and became the first club to ever follow a 100-loss campaign with a post-season berth.
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