Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said the team will not discuss a contract extension with slugger Giancarlo Stanton this season. (Marc Serota/Getty Images)

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said that the team would not discuss a contract extension with star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton until after the season.

“I dont think this is the year to go to Giancarlo with an offer. We have to let him play it out, let him feel more comfortable,” Loria said, according to The Palm Beach Post.

Loria spoke to reporters for the first time Monday since a shocking offseason trade with the Toronto Blue Jays in which the team unloaded shortstop Jose Reyes, pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle.

Loria’s comments aren’t exactly a surprise, as Stanton is under team control through 2016. But Stanton has been the subject of trade rumors since the Marlins’ payroll purge in November. Loria was asked if Stanton would remain with the Marlins beyond one more year.

“I don’t have any comments about that,” he said. “One more year? He will be here this year and I’m hopefully he will come here the next year. … I would love to see him be the centerpiece of this ball club. He’d the young giant in the ball club, but you can’t make promises in this game because strange things happen all the time.”

In just his third full season, the 23-year-old Stanton hit 37 homers last season in 123 games with a .969 OPS last year.

Loria also defended the team’s offseason fire sale, saying the moves were needed because the team was not in a position to immediately contend.

“It’s not a fire sale. You can call it a fire sale. It’s called hit the restart button because it didn’t damn work,” Loria said, .

“I understand the feeling, but I have no interest in endless losing and we had two years of that. I want to us get back to our winning ways.”

Would the Marlins trade young slugger Giancarlo Stanton? At least five teams have inquired about the possibility. (Marc Serota/Getty Images)

After the Miami Marlins completed a gigantic payroll purge in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays last week, at least five teams have inquired about the availability of young star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton.

The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo reports that the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, the Chicago Cubs “and many more” have all asked about the 23-year-old Stanton’s availability.

From Cafardo’s report:

“Commissioner Bud Selig is watching the Marlins closely after the salary dump in the Blue Jays deal. While Selig did not step in to change or block that trade, he may not look too fondly upon a deal for the Marlins’ biggest draw. Teams would have to give their very best to the Marlins for baseball’s best young slugger. The Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, Cubs, and many more are inquiring, according to a major league source.”

In just his third full season, Stanton hit 37 homers last season in 123 games with a .969 OPS. He would likely bring a coup of prospects to Miami if the organization decided to trade him.

Last week, Selig approved the Marlins’ salary-dump trade, which sent All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes, pitchers Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson, catcher John Buck and outfielder Emilio Bonifacio to the Blue Jays for seven players. The trade saved the Marlins $146.5 million in payroll. Stanton will be eligible for arbitration following the 2013 season, but he would be under club control until the 2016 season.

Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton will have surgery on his right knee Sunday and will be out of the Marlins lineup for four to six weeks, the team announced Saturday.

The Miami Herald’s Manny Navarro reported, via Twitter, that Stanton will have surgery at 7 a.m. Sunday on the knee to remove bone chips. Stanton was pulled in the third inning of the Marlins’ 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.

Guillen said he expects Stanton to be out for at least 4-6 weeks. He will fly back to Miami tomorrow to have surgery #Marlins

— Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) July 7, 2012

#Marlins say Stanton will have surgery at 7 am Sunday. He’s already on his way back.

— Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) July 7, 2012

Stanton had previously hoped to delay any knee surgery until after the season. The surgery ensures that Stanton will miss both Monday’s Home Run Derby and Tuesday’s All Star Game in Kansas City. Washington Nationals outfielder and fellow young superstar Bryce Harper will replace Stanton on the All-Star roster, MLB announced Saturday night.

The 22-year-old sensation Stanton will be missed in the Marlins’ lineup. He was the team’s only All-Star, and he’s hitting .282 with a .915 OPS this season. He has 19 homers and 50 RBI.

Miami Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton has a knee problem and could miss time. (Sarah Glenn/Getty Images)

Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton will miss this week’s series against the Milwaukee Brewers, and possibly the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby because of a knee problem, reports MLB.com.

Stanton had an MRI on his right knee on Tuesday and felt his right knee lock up in the eighth inning of Monday’s 6-5 loss to the Brewers. He developed soreness in the knee in Spring Training.

“One day at a time,” Stanton said. “It’s pretty important right now to kind of evaluate everything and make sure all is good to go.”

Stanton, in his third season, is batting .283 with 19 home runs and 50 RBIs in 78 games and might miss this weekend’s series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I’m going to go for this weekend,” Stanton said. “I feel all right. I just have got to let some swelling and stuff go down.”

He was the only Marlin selected for the All-Star Game.

“I think we’ve been lucky because he’s played this long without any problems,” Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said. “I thought he was going to be a little bit worse. When we left Spring Training, we didn’t know exactly what we were going to get. That’s the reason we have to wait and see how he feels the next couple of days.”

Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton left today’s game against the New York Mets after being hit by a pitch on the left wrist, but he says he’s doing OK now.

All is good, Ready to go! No worries my people

—
Giancarlo Stanton (@Giancarlo27_) March 11, 2012

Stanton was hit by a fastball from Mets reliever Chris Schwinden in the top of the third. He left the game but X-rays fortunately came back negative.

The Marlins eventually beat the Mets, 4-2, in a game shortened to five innings due to rain.