MIAMI — Most people, had they been offered a $325 million contract spread out over 13 years, would agree to it immediately.
But not Giancarlo Stanton, 25, the Marlins’ 6-foot-6, 240-pound slugging right fielder.
“I stayed up multiple nights just thinking and thinking and thinking about the direction of the team,” Stanton said Wednesday at Marlins Park, where he signed that contract, the richest in American sports history.
“The road pushing forward looks bright. … You guys can think whatever you want. But it wasn’t the money fueling this (decision). If it was, I would have just said, ‘OK, this is the offer, I’m in.’
“This was the toughest decision of my life. This is 13 years. I didn’t even go to school for 13 years, all right? I wanted to make sure this is what I wanted to do in terms of changing things around here.”
Stanton, who finished second in the National League MVP race this past season, would be 37 years old at the end of the contract, assuming he stays with the deal. He does have an option to become a free agent after six years.
The contract is back-loaded. Stanton will average $17.8 million for the first six years. He would average $31.1 million for the final seven years.
Stanton said the contract was structured that way for a reason.
“To add pieces,” said Stanton, who has been promised by Marlins management that the team will acquire proven players with an eye toward winning championships. “We’ve got to add pieces around me. (The contract) is built that way in order to so financially. That’s what we have to trust.”
That trust is hard to come by for Marlins fans, who — on multiple occasions — have seen their franchise go on spending sprees only to dismantle the team the following year.
The most recent example came in 2012, when Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria put together a $118 million payroll. By the next year, he had authorized the trading of stars such as Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez, leaving the payroll at a mere $39.6 million.
Loria on Wednesday called that a “bump in the road,” but it’s the reason Stanton had to do so much soul searching when the Marlins flew to California to negotiate this deal with him over the past two weeks.
“Frankly, it didn’t work,” Loria said of the free agent signings of 2012. “I had to hit the re-set button. It wasn’t popular, and I didn’t care. Things had to change. Management had to change. And we did that.”
Now that the Marlins have hit that proverbial re-set button, it’s comforting for manager Mike Redmond to have Stanton at the heart of his play list.
Even though he missed the final 17 games of the 2014 season due to getting hit in the face with a pitch, Stanton still led the National League in homers (37) and slugging percentage (.555).
He also placed second in RBIs (105) and OPS (.950), hit .288 and had a career high in doubles (31).
Stanton, who slugged five of the 20 longest homers in baseball this past season, would have been a free agent after the 2016 season had he not signed an extension.
Still, this contract coming from the notoriously small-budget Marlins is shocking. After all, the franchise spent just $303 million on their combined payroll for the past five seasons.
Now they are contractually obligated to pay one man more than what they paid, in essence, 125 players over the past five years.
For more perspective, Stanton’s contract is bigger than the 10-year, $275 million deal Alex Rodriguez got from the New York Yankees following the 2007 season. And it’s bigger than the 10-year, $292 million Miguel Cabrera from the Detroit Tigers in March.
Cabrera will be 40 when he finishes his contract. Rodriguez will be 42.
The Marlins certainly hope Stanton can stay healthy and productive through the life of the contract. And both Stanton and the Marlins agreed that last season’s beaning had no bearing on the contract.
“It had zero to do with that,” Stanton said. “I understand how important that was, getting hit and the way (baseball) could be taken away from me in a heartbeat. But that had nothing to do with this decision.”
The Marlins said Stanton was once hit in the neck by a 95-mph fastball from teammate Jose Fernandez in spring training. Stanton showed no ill effects from that, and the Marlins believe the same thing will happen going forward.
“You are looking at a special young man — strong as hell,” Loria said. “I don’t know any other way to say it.”
Stanton, a native of Los Angeles, said he prefers living in Miami, which was surprising since many media members figured he would bolt to the Dodgers or Angels at the first opportunity.
Not so, Stanton said.
“I love living here,” Stanton said of Miami. “I love the people. I love the environment. I like it better than L.A., where I grew up. I’m very comfortable here. This is where I want to make my stamp.”
It remains to be seen if the Marlins retain their other core players and bring in more good ones.
It remains to be seen if Stanton has no ill effects from the beaning and is able to stay relatively healthy.
And it remains to be seen if Stanton doesn’t get frustrated by teams that pitch around him and give him little to hit.
But regardless of that, Stanton, who was picked by the Marlins out of high school in the second round of the 2007 draft, made it clear on Wednesday that his franchise will be getting full effort for their huge dollars.
“It’s not like a lottery ticket and peace out,” Stanton said. “This is the start of new work and a new job. It’s a huge responsibility.”