B.J. Upton Rumors

Teams Express Interest In B.J. Upton

According to MLB.com's Jim Molony, several teams contacted the Rays regarding center fielder B.J. Upton. Molony says a trade is unlikely. Star center fielders are rare, and the Rays don't have any strong needs. Upton is under team control through the 2012 season, I believe.   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Dice-K, Varitek, Rolen

Links for Monday... Tim Brown and Peter Abraham offer their takes on the top free agents. A note from Abraham - if Daisuke Matsuzaka finishes top three in the AL Cy Young vote, he'll get an extra $2MM in each of the '09 and '10 seasons. The Mariners could hire their new GM as soon as tomorrow. Geoff Baker discussed the merits of the four candidates in two recent posts. Jason Varitek was mum on his future last night. Joe Frisaro has the Marlins' 2009 payroll in the $30-35MM range. They have 15 arbitration-eligible players. I came across an interesting...   Continue Reading

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Stark's Latest: Young Players, Giles, DeJesus

Jayson Stark's latest Rumblings and Grumblings column is chock full of information. Stark rattles off Dan Uggla, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, B.J. Upton, Justin Upton, Russell Martin, Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Felix Hernandez, Jeff Francoeur, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia as youngsters who do not have long-term deals in the works. With Uggla and Greinke, the opposition seems more on the team's side. With Hamels and Howard neither side wants a long-term deal. With the rest, the player is resisting. The Padres' top trading chip is probably Brian Giles, though a deal would further deplete a weak offense....   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Hanley, Salcedo, Torrealba

Time to round 'em up... Rob Neyer guesses B.J. Upton is the next to get a long-term deal from the Rays. Back on April 24th, Jayson Stark wrote that the Upton family "has its own ideas about the market value of both brothers." Expect a Hanley Ramirez press conference today, or this weekend at the latest. Tribe Report walks us through the Edward Salcedo confusion. Yorvit Torrealba's agent has filed a grievance against the Mets over their nearly-signed three-year deal. Jon Heyman says nothing's imminent with Ken Griffey Jr. Buster Olney wrote today that the Mariners are "not especially gung-ho"...   Continue Reading

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Stark's Latest: Oswalt, Tejada, Upton, Burrell

Check out the latest column from ESPN's Jayson Stark. Stark talked to one exec who believed the Astros' baseball people might consider a Roy Oswalt trade, but owner Drayton McLane never would. The exec also questioned whether the Astros would've given up a bounty of five players to acquire Miguel Tejada if they'd known the player's true age. Stark implies that the Upton brothers are eyeing big bucks and aren't likely to sign extensions. Stark's sources believe the Phillies will offer Pat Burrell something like two years and $14MM. He'll probably want significantly more than that.   Continue Reading

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Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Papelbon, Fielder, Hamels

Last year, in his final year prior to arbitration eligibility, Ryan Howard was renewed for $900K. This was about twice what the Phillies were required to pay Howard, but significantly less than the reigning MVP thought he deserved. Of course, this year that number has been used as a measuring stick by several young stars that have yet to reach arbitration and are subject to automatic renewals from their clubs. It seems that this year, more than years past, players are voicing their displeasure about the automatic renewals. Prince Fielder is displeased at being renewed for $670K, or about 50%...   Continue Reading

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Twins Willing To Trade Garza

Terry Ryan hung on to his fine corral of young pitchers, and it's hard to find fault with that. However, new GM Bill Smith is open to dealing one of them for a high impact young hitter. Specifically, Joe Christensen says the Twins are willing to move 24 year-old Matt Garza, who posted a 3.69 ERA this year. The price would be huge - the names the Twins have in mind are Delmon Young, B.J. Upton, and Carlos Gomez. Upton, a favorite of theirs, seems like the least available of the three. Marc Topkin agrees that a Young-Garza rumor has..   Continue Reading

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Florida Teams Talking Trade?

Here's a rumor I missed from Jayson Stark's column on Friday. Stark notes: "Despite talk of the Marlins and Devil Rays reviving their long-rumored deal involving Rocco Baldelli, Florida actually appears to be more focused on the younger (and cheaper) B.J. Upton and Elijah Dukes as center field possibilities." That makes sense, but what would Florida give up at this point? Scott Olsen has to be off-limits. Josh Johnson is hurting. Anibal Sanchez's shoulder inflammation has died down, but he's still a risk. Ricky Nolasco might be reasonable, though it would chip away at the team's strength. Nolasco for Dukes..   Continue Reading

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D-Rays Willing To Trade Upton, Young?

According to Mike Berardino of the Sporting News, the Rays have been willing to discuss trades for both Delmon Young and B.J. Upton this winter. (Berardino also writes for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel). Apparently Upton's attitude and shaky defense scare rival teams more than Young's attitude alone. It's tough to envision Young going anywhere. Despite the bat-throwing, the 21 year-old has star written all over him. He's got some interesting comparables, according to Baseball Prospectus. The most similar player is the very solid former Astros and Reds CF Cesar Cedeno. His list also includes Rocco Baldelli, Orlando Cepeda, Elijah Dukes,..   Continue Reading

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