What does the broken bone in Giancarlo Stanton's hand mean?
It means that a fair number of baseball fans won't be enjoying baseball quite as much for a while.
Which is about all we can say at this point. We don't know the severity of the injury yet, so we don't know (for example) if Stanton's still got a shot at leading the major leagues in home runs this season. That does seem unlikely, though. We also don't know if this was some sort of freak injury that says nothing at all about Stanton's long-term prospects. You have to concerned a little, though, no?
Stanton's been hailed as a possible Face of Baseball because he's handsome, he's physically impressive, and (oh, yeah!) he can hit the ball 500 feet without even trying that hard. But he's in his fifth full season, and will wind up averaging something like 125 or '30 games per season. Which doesn't mean he's not still a highly valuable player, even missing a few weeks every season. But without the counting stats it's hard to get famous.
Meanwhile, however long Stanton's out this season, it would seem immaterial to the Marlins' fortunes. Mired in a five-game losing streak, they're not within hailing distance of a playoff spot. Ken says Stanton's injury "could push Marlins to sell," but they shouldn't need anything for that push except a quick glance at the standings; BP gives them a 1.4 percent shot at the playoffs.
And that was with Stanton. Without, it would be less than 1 percent.
Alas, the Marlins don't really have much to sell. Two of their veterans, Mike Morse and Martin Prado, have been both injured and ineffective. Their super-veteran, Ichiro Suzuki, has approximately zero value to a contender. You could make a case for selling on Dee Gordon -- after all, he's 27 and has never played this well before -- but considering how few hitters the Marlins have, it'll be shocking if he's dealt.
Which basically leaves Dan Haren and Mat Latos, if Latos can string together a few good starts in July.
As for Haren, how much are you going to get for two-plus months of Dan Haren?
I don't know. But management needs to get on the phone and find out.
Update: It's a hamate, and Stanton's expected to miss a month, at least. Everything above still applies.
