LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - No matter how much their fans imagined Giancarlo Stanton bashing balls over the Green Monster, the Boston Red Sox never came close to getting the NL MVP.
But does anyone really expect the Red Sox or the Cubs and other top contenders to stand still after seeing the slugger join the dreaded New York Yankees?
"We're looking for a middle of the order bat," Dave Dombrowski, Boston's president of baseball operations, said Monday at the winter meetings. "That hasn't changed. First base or DH."
A couple of big hitters just happen to be available, too.
J.D. Martinez, who launched four home runs in a game for Arizona last season, is a free agent. So is Eric Hosmer, coming off a career year in Kansas City.
Who knows, maybe the Cubs think bopper Kyle Schwarber might fit better somewhere else. Chicago already seems to have a target at this swap-and-sign gathering: pitcher Alex Cobb, who could possibly take Jake Arrieta's spot in the rotation for the NL Central champs.
Remember, Dombrowski pulled off a lightning strike at these meetings last year, getting ace Chris Sale from the White Sox. And certainly the Red Sox could use power - they won the AL East despite hitting a major league-low 168 homers.
Stanton thumped 59 homers for Miami. With a no-trade clause in his contract, he gave the Marlins a list of teams where he'd be willing to go - Yankees, Astros, Dodgers and Cubs, the clubs that reached the AL and NL Championship Series.
"They're winners. They're young and they're in a good position to win for a long time, and I lost for a long time," the 28-year-old outfielder said. "So I want to change that dynamic and be a winner."
Dombrowski said the Red Sox weren't in the Marlins mix, with Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi in the lineup.