The Marlins are not entertaining trade offers for Giancarlo Stanton, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. In fact, Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest told Heyman he’d love to find a powerful bat to pair with Stanton in Miami’s lineup.
"We want someone to hit behind him, someone to offer more power," Beinfest told Heyman. "Giancarlo represents the power on our team."
Adding a power hitter appears to be the Marlins’ top priority. Stanton, the 23-year-old slugger who has surpassed the 30-homer mark in both of the past two seasons, won’t be traded. People with Marlins connections and rival executives agree he’ll return to Miami in 2013. But aside from Stanton, who’s still pre-arbitration eligible, there are lots of areas of need for the Marlins.
"It's not going to be easy," Beinfest acknowledged. "We're not going to put any expectations on it … the reality is, we haven't played good for a couple years."
I previewed Miami’s upcoming offseason last week.
