From Stanton's perspective, he probably wanted to go somewhere where he didn't have to constantly worry about whether his team could afford the contract. From the Marlin's perspective, given that Stanton missed a large chunk of two of the last three seasons, the risk of that contract becoming an albatross that would set the team back a decade was uncomfortably high. Plus, the chance to sell any higher on Stanton later on than they could do this offseason was basically zero. The question then becomes, what constitutes selling high? The Yankees, of course, had to bear the unimaginable burden of almost making the playoffs in three of four seasons from 2013-2016 as a result of taking on contracts that became albatrosses. They'll worry about that when they need to.