Bob Nightengale

USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins, perhaps more famous for their fire sales than World Series championships, with baseball's lowest payroll, intend to dramatically change their image this winter.

The Marlins have plans.

Yes, expensive plans.

The Marlins plan to offer MVP candidate Giancarlo Stanton the most lucrative contract in franchise history. Even if they can't reach an agreement on a long-term contract extension this winter, the Marlins insist they will keep Stanton through at least the 2015 season, vowing to build a championship club around him.

They have control of Stanton through the 2016 season. After that, free agency could make him could make him baseball's first $300 million player.

The Marlins hope to strike before that can happen.

"He's the leader of this franchise,'' Marlins president David Samson tells USA TODAY Sports. "We always knew the talent he had, but what he's done this year, playing every day, he's the definition of a game-changer.

"We call him a no-food player. A no-bathroom player. When he comes to the plate, nobody leaves their seat.

"There's no question he's the MVP of this league.''

Stanton, 24, told USA TODAY Sports in a telephone interview Tuesday that he's certainly willing to listen this winter, and, yes, he's curious to hear the Marlins' plans.

Stanton, who leads the National League with 37 homers and 105 RBI, says he's never had more fun in his career. It's not so much about the numbers that make him a viable MVP candidate, he says, but it's all about the winning.

The Marlins, 71-72 after Tuesday night's win, have greatly improved from a year ago, and are hanging in the wild-card race, but the Marlins still haven't won a thing since he's been in the organization.

Finally, he sees hope. He now wants to make sure it's not fleeting.

"There has to be some progression moving forward,'' says Stanton. "You can't be just OK hanging around with the big boys. We have to turn it around and become one of the big boys.''

Stanton wants assurances the team is committed to winning. He remembering all of the hype two years ago with their free-agent haul, and the fire sale in November 2012, after the season went up in flames.

"It wasn't the trades that made me mad,'' Stanton says, "it was just how it all went down.''

The Marlins, instead of hoping the lost season was an aberration, hit the control-alt-delete button on their plan, believing they had to re-tool. They now are on the verge of being dangerous, and ready to become a serious National League East contender in 2015.

And there is no building block bigger than Stanton, who just tied the franchise record with his 154th career homer Monday night. He needs just one more RBI to become the sixth-youngest player since 1920 to reach 150 homers and 400 RBI.

"It will be interesting to hear what they have to say when the time comes,'' Stanton says, "but right now, I'm not worrying about it. I mean, we're still in this season. When this season is over, then we can start thinking about 2015. We've got to deal with the now.''

Besides, there's a wild-card berth still at stake.

The National League MVP award, too.

"There's no question he's the MVP,'' Samson says. "When you look at what he's done this year, it's very hard to say he's not the MVP of the league.''

Of course, the one man standing in his way is the modern-day Sandy Koufax: Clayton Kershaw is 18-3 with a 1.67 ERA, with one of the finest pitching seasons in a generation leading the Los Angeles Dodgers atop the National League West.

"Kershaw is the best pitcher in the league, and as the best pitcher, he should win the Cy Young award,'' Samson says. " The most valuable position player should get the MVP.''

Stanton listens to the debate raging throughout baseball. Players like Los Angles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols believe that pitchers shouldn't win the MVP award. Pitchers like Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, who won the AL MVP award three years ago, wonder, why not?

"I just think that if you play 150 to 160 games,'' Stanton says, "and someone else shows up for 30 days, there's a big difference there. When you're a starting pitcher, you may pitch five, six times a month. When you're a player, you're sometimes playing 28 games a month.

"I just think as a position player you have a whole lot more influence than just 30 games.''

Certainly, it can be argued that Kershaw has influenced the Dodgers much more than the 24 games he has pitched. He allows manager Don Mattingly to empty his bullpen the day before his starts, and have them fully rested for the game afterward.

Kershaw remains the MVP favorite, but there's no denying who is the league's finest all-around player this season.

"Winning the MVP would mean the world to me,'' Stanton says. "The award would be a reflection of how hard I worked to get to this point.

"But no matter what, this year has been so much fun, just because we're winning more than we ever have. It makes it so much easier when you perform. The days aren't as long, and you don't have that dead feeling in the clubhouse.

"It's kind of fun not making your off-season plans in August.''

Stanton, who has traveled to Spain the last two off-seasons, doesn't know what's in store this year, but the Marlins hope to make him a rich man during his next European vacation.

If the Marlins prove they're serious, that could be a whole lot more powerful than adding zeroes to Stanton's paycheck.

"Winning,'' Stanton says, "has a way of curing a whole lot of things.''