Three hundred twenty-five million dollar$$$. No, thats not a Dr. Evil reference, that was the number inscribed as guaranteed on Giancarlo Stanton’s contract offer from the Miami Marlins, a contract Stanton obviously signed.

Let’s all take a deep breath. Now, while that amount of money seems like a lie, I can and will say here for you now, it is not.

“Why?” your next question may be.

In response I can only utter the phrase, “He plays baseball.”

Is this appropriate? Choose either one — the amount of money or the response — because I am dumbfounded by the lot of them. How in the world can this man possibly deserve this type of cold hard cash?

Mind the fact that he plays for possibly the worst organization in baseball, arguably the worst in professional sports after the “any player worthwhile kick-out-a-thon” of a few years back, but with the setup for this Stanton contract clearly years in the making, it now all seems to make sense.

So what is the justification? The team is saying that by throwing an inordinate amount of funding at this single player, this is the man who will win them titles?

I think not. How many times does it have to be reiterated that pitching wins championships? Just ask the New York Yankees over the last few years, with Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez, just to name a few.

Can we be honest for a second and say this was a terrible decision? The president for these signings has been set in the past, and with these gargantuan investments comes team disappearance — from the playoffs, from the relevance list and from the media — heck, after this, I would argue the Marlin fan behind home plate at every World Series contest will be more worthy of coverage.

Are we willing to accept that the Marlins can compete with the all mighty pinstripes in spending? I think not. Or the concept that the talent currently on the roster is adequate to complete a run of any constitution? Once again, I think not.

The trend is already moving downward, from the moment ink moistened paper.

Here, let us lay out the next five years for the Marlins, just the Cliff Notes:

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That was it, flat line.