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The 2017-18 offseason is only two weeks old, and already we know the story of the winter: the Giancarlo Stanton trade. It hasn't happened yet, but it feels inevitable. The Marlins are looking to cut payroll considerably and the easiest way to do that is trading away the team's highest paid player. There are no shortage of suitors for Stanton.

On Wednesday, Marlins minority owner Derek Jeter spoke with reporters at the quarterly owners' meetings and confirmed the team is listening to trade offers for Stanton as part of their effort to stop losing money. Jeter also added that he has not yet spoken to Stanton, and that the Marlins are not 100 percent committed to trading him yet.    

Tim Healey of the Sun Sentinel has the details of what Jeter told a group of reporters on Wednesday:

"If there's a reason to call, I'll call him," Jeter said outside the Waldorf Astoria luxury hotel, where he is attending MLB's quarterly owners' meetings for the first time as the Marlins' boss. "At this point, there's no reason to call him."  

...

"It's not like we sat down and said we have to trade him," Jeter said. "We're exploring options, what opportunities are there. We're listening. Teams haven't only reached out about Stanton. They've reached out about a lot of our players, which says a lot about the players in our organization. We'll see.  

"Giancarlo had a tremendous season. He has a full no-trade clause. I think a lot of this started when he came out and said expressed publicly he didn't want to be a part of rebuild. That's when rumors started floating around. I can't tell the future."  

First things first: of course Jeter is going to say the Marlins are not committed to trading Stanton. They would gain nothing by admitting Stanton is available. It would hurt them, actually. It would give other clubs leverage during trade talks because they'd know Miami has to move Stanton to get their financial situation in order. Jeter and the Marlins have to make Stanton seem as unavailable as possible.

Here's more from Jeter, via the Associated Press:

Jeter says "it's an organization that's been losing money for quite some time, so we have to turn that around" and adds "it's easy to point the finger at him, because he makes the most money, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the move that's going to be made."  

As for not calling Stanton, doesn't that seem a little weird? Stanton is the face of the franchise and his name pops up every single day in trade rumors. You'd think Jeter would at least want to check in on Giancarlo, let him know where things stand, and get his take on things. Jeter was a franchise player. How would he feel if he didn't get a call from ownership if his name was being bandied about as a trade candidate?

Meanwhile, other teams are lining up to tell the Marlins they'll need to eat some of Stanton's deal if the return is to include high-level prospects:

For now, Stanton remains with the Marlins, and I don't expect this process to wrap up quickly. There's no reason for the Marlins to rush into anything. They can be patient, play the market, and make sure they make the best possible deal. At some point Jeter will call Stanton, I imagine. The sooner the better.