It would be difficult to argue the New York Yankees needed Giancarlo Stanton, the towering, slugging outfielder whose onerous contract the Miami Marlins were shopping around this winter. The Yankees have spent the last few years getting younger and leaner, and in Aaron Judge, the American League rookie of the year, they had not only a virtual clone of Stanton, in both size and skills, but one who was younger and cheaper.
But Stanton, 28, whose record-setting $325 million deal signed with the Marlins in 2014 contains a full no-trade clause, had the Yankees on a very short list of teams to whom he would approve a trade.