The Marlins have been angling to trade NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton and his record contract for some time. However, Stanton has a full no-trade clause, which means he must approve any deal. It was reported Thursday night that Stanton would approve a trade to just four teams, and that list included neither the Giants nor the Cardinals, who had been by far the most active in talks with the Marlins.

After that story broke, the Cardinals responded with a statement: 

In case you can't make it out, the statement reads: 

St. Louis Cardinals Chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt, and President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak issued the following statements on the club's potential acquisition of Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton: 

"We had an agreement to acquire Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins, subject to him waiving his no-trade clause. We have been notified that he will not waive his no-trade clause to come to St. Louis. While we are disappointed in his decision, we will continue to make every effort to improve our club for the upcoming season," said DeWitt. 

"Unfortunately we were not able to convince Stanton to waive his no-trade clause and join the Cardinals. We felt this was a great landing spot for him, but it was not meant to be," said Mozeliak 

This seems a bit unconventional, for a team to make a public statement about a trade that fell apart, but presumably the motivation is to signal to fans that ownership and the front office are doing their part to improve the roster. That much, however, was apparent from the reportage surrounding the Stanton talks.

In any event, the Cardinals must look elsewhere for the impact bat they seek. As for Stanton, he's exerting power over the process, and he's fully within his rights to do so. If the Marlins didn't want him to use his no-trade powers, then they shouldn't have agreed to grant him such powers.