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JUPITER, Fla. – Two of Giancarlo Stanton's friends ran into each other this offseason and couldn't contain their laughter. They'd done the same thing, and they suspected they weren't the only ones, either. The first time they talked with Stanton after the Miami Marlins' fire sale, they skipped the usual platitudes and went straight to the apology.





How bad is it to be a Marlin? A rich, handsome, supremely talented 23-year-old with the most powerful swing in baseball actually invokes pity across the sport.

The friends relay this story because they know Stanton won't. He expressed his disappointment to MLB.com's Peter Gammons following the Marlins dumping more than $160 million worth of salaries on the Toronto Blue Jays, and then he went back to his business, which is playing for a franchise far more interested in its P&L statement than its W-L columns.

"What are you gonna do?" Stanton said Thursday morning. "Honestly, what? There's nothing you can do. You express your feelings, and that's about it."

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Stanton wasn't gritting his teeth or playing passive-aggressive. He's right, and his maturity stands in great contrast to the efforts of team owner Jeffrey Loria and president David Samson to further sully a franchise.

The Schadenfreude of 2012 – the Marlins' new stadium that was coaxed out of politicians and tax dollars through lies, misdirection and obfuscation, sat empty by the end of the season – gave way to the sadness of a major-league franchise self-immolating. The Marlins lost tens of millions of dollars last year, a reasonable comeuppance for all the revenue-sharing money they'd pocketed and distributed to themselves. But no. The ledgers never can be even in Miami. Finances always trump dignity with Loria and Samson.

So off went Jose Reyes, whom Loria two days earlier had told to buy a house in Miami because he wasn't going anywhere, and Mark Buehrle, whom Loria assured was part of the Marlins' future, and Josh Johnson, arguably the best pitcher in team history. And left, along with Ricky Nolasco, Logan Morrison and a brigade of kids, was Stanton, a diamond dropped into a port-a-potty.

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By the end of last season, he had hit 93 career home runs. The only other players with that many at the end of their age-22 season were Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews, Alex Rodriguez, Tony Conigliaro and Frank Robinson. Stanton could've been anything – a devastating wide receiver/tight end hybrid at USC, a punishing combo guard at UNLV – but chose baseball and home runs that break scoreboards, which he did at Marlins Park. It's a wonder Loria didn't sneak the repair costs out of his paycheck.

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