ORLANDO, Fla. _ Marlins CEO Derek Jeter has not spoken to franchise player Giancarlo Stanton, Jeter said Wednesday.
"If there's a reason to call, I'll call him," Jeter said outside the Waldorf Astoria luxury hotel, where he is attending MLB's quarterly owners' meetings for the first time as the Marlins' boss. "At this point, there's no reason to call him."
Stanton's future is among the top storylines of baseball's offseason, with the Marlins signaling to other teams _ but not publicly _ that they are looking to trade their NL MVP candidate/slugging right fielder as they reshape their roster under the new ownership group led by Jeter. Miami has reportedly engaged in preliminary Stanton trade talks with eight teams at this week's GM Meetings.
President of baseball operations Michael Hill, it's worth noting, has spoken to Stanton and said he has an idea of where Stanton would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to go.
Jeter insisted that the Marlins aren't necessarily committed to moving Stanton.
"It's not like we sat down and said we have to trade him," Jeter said. "We're exploring options, what opportunities are there. We're listening. Teams haven't only reached out about Stanton. They've reached out about a lot of our players, which says a lot about the players in our organization. We'll see.
"Giancarlo had a tremendous season. He has a full no-trade clause. I think a lot of this started when he came out and said expressed publicly he didn't want to be a part of rebuild. That's when rumors started floating around. I can't tell the future."
Jeter acknowledged that the Marlins need to turn things around financially, noting that while the club hasn't been to the playoffs since 2003 and hasn't had a winning season since 2009, the Marlins have also been losing money for years.
"I think it's easy to point the finger at him because he makes the most money," Jeter said. "But it doesn't necessarily mean hat's a move that's going to be made.
"I understand the assumptions. I do. But we have not publicly come out and say we're going to trade any particular player."
