Yesterday we learned that at least 15 teams inquired about the availability of Arizona's Justin Upton at the GM Meetings, and that five of those clubs wanted to push talks further along. We also learned that the 23-year-old can block trades to Athletics, Indians, Royals, and Tigers. Here are today's batch of Upton rumors, with more to come throughout the day…
- ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that a lot of people in the game are wondering why the Diamondbacks are so intent on marketing their budding star. They're curious if something's wrong.
- ESPN's Keith Law (Insider req'd) lists four reasons why new GM Kevin Towers might want to deal Upton, noting that he may have concerns about his on-field potential, makeup, and health.
How bad could his shoulder be if Towers wants to trade him??????
Maybe he just wants to get a ridiculous haul for him. Towers could be concerned with his strikeouts.
interesting that his makeup is mentioned. i remember hearing how he rubbed people the wrong way after he first signed- kind of arrogant and entitled, not running out ground balls, etc. that wouldn’t make me trade him, just kind of interesting to see that mentioned.
“Yesterday we learned that at least 15 teams inquired about the available of Arizona’s Justin Upton…” Just FYI Mikie-boy.*availability
Every team should be willing to consider trading every one of their players. It’s ridiculous to judge the “considering” you should only judge the “trade.”If Towers trade Upton for Omar Infante and a middle reliever then you can say he’s a silly billy little head. If he trades him for Clay Buccholz, Jacoby Ellsbury Jed Lowrie and Daniel Bard then it’s probably a smart thing to do.
he’s had a torn labrum since 2006 and has not gotten it fix.. that why he been missing games past few years. Torn labrum can be a real nasty injury
Why I think KT is willing/wants to move Upton:
Towers as far as I can tell is the type of GM who wants his team his way and to play a certain type of baseball. He inheritied a team with record breaking strikeout numbers and not much in overall pitching talent in the rotation or pen or minors or majors which seems opposite to his MO. He did inherit a few players with trade value and one of whom who has outstanding trade value in Justin Upton. Since Upton wasn’t drafted and developed under Towers he isn’t protected by that ‘GM’s special jewel syndrome’ and is much easier to trade in Towers’ eye. To KT, Upton is a guy who he may not particularly like and would be the quickest and most effective way to revamp the D-Backs into a pitching, defense and contact hitting team like he seems to want.
Trading Upton along with Reynolds and maybe a few others could turn the D-Backs into the team Towers wants in just a year or two instead of waiting 4-5 years for all the the new draft picks and signings to trickle through.
I think you are right, makeup and injuries might play a role into it, but he isn’t Towers player by any means. I think Upton and Reynolds will both be on their way out b/c of their K’s and the rebuilding process. They also account for much of the future payroll of this team so Towers might be trying to ‘clear the books’ so to speak. Upton should bring back a King’s ransom, and in that I can see the logic in moving him.
Could Towers want to trade him because he Strikes out 150 times a year
Some people think because of that, he may never reach his potential.
Just want to point out that Carlos Gonzalez struck out 135 times last year and still finished with a .336/.376/.598 line.
Didnt he also have a 28% LD rate and a ~390 BABIP?
Upton has had .354(2010), .360 and .332 BABIP the past 3 years. BJ had .393 and .344 in 07 and 08 seasons where he had his best seasons.
Just seems like if you have high strikeouts then you will have a high BABIP.
The Dbacks are doing the right thing. No one should be ‘untouchable’. They are just seeing if they could get blown away on a trade, if they don’t there is no need to trade him. Seeing as they are getting calls from over half the teams in the majors, they might get a trade that blows them away and deal him.
I really think the Cardinals should throw everything outside of Colby to get this guy
I can tell you right now, if Colby ruffled under TLR’s management style, Justin Upton would throw tantrums.
“a lot of people in the game are wondering why the Diamondbacks are so intent on marketing their budding star. They’re curious if something’s wrong.”
That’s another big reason why I don’t want the Red Sox to send a major package to the Dbacks for Upton. If he’s such a sure thing then almost any package probably wouldn’t be worth the Dbacks trading him. Towers has a good eye for talent…
Could it not be that they believe that having 3-5 good/really good players is better than having one outstanding young superstar? If you drop some value in right but gain value at 3-5 other positions it could potentially be a pretty big net upgrade for the team overall.
Esp. if most of them have 5 or 6 years remaining of team control (and for prospects who are M.L. ready Towers could always bring them up in June and get this year for free).
If you can move one player and get 2-3 major-league-ready players as well as a couple of prospects in return, it makes all the sense in the world to me.
Buster Olney makes stuff up whenever Jon Heyman is getting more publicity. Lol
lets assume that nobody trades for upton in the next few weeks and the talk dies down. any chance upton then demands to be traded?
Then it’ll be treated like the Colby Rasmus trade demand, internet rumors will run rampant. Ultimately though my bet is Towers will only trade Upton at his price.
So Upton blocks the Tigers but not the Nationals, Mariners, Pirates, Brewers, or Astros? I don’t want this guy, his potential is too high and any trade for Upton would be a good trade for the D’Backs. Upton has been in the league for 3 years now, and is always projected to hit almost 40 hrs, but never does. Personally, I would rather have Crawford who is a proven OF who is good defensively and offensively.
I would like for someone to start doing some real reporting, and get players to start telling reasons for why they have certain teams on their list of no-trade…now THAT would be interesting.
How could you have a problem with a player’s potential being too high?
Are you saying that Upton isn’t a proven OF and isn’t good defensively and offensively? I think his 2009 all star roster spot, third-best UZR at his position, and career .272/.352/.471 line disagree with you. Especially compared to Crawford’s career .296/.337/.444 line. Oh yeah, and Crawford is six years older.
I love how you rationalize how Upton isn’t that great a player just because he doesn’t want to be on the team you are a fan of. LMAO
I know the DBacks will probably want more, but it would be nice if the Red Sox got him for a package built around Ellsbury, Doubront, Rizzo, and Reddick. Then after losing Ellsbury the Sox could go hard after Crawford and probably get him. Let V Mart walk and hand over the catching duties to, of course, Varitek, but have Salty and Exposito compete for the other catcher spot on a merit system. Sign Downs and Fuentes and then release Okajima, and then the Red Sox would be in business next year!
How about Bard, Iglesias, Kelly, Ellsbury…
With a talent like Upton. There is virtually no package of players that is too high a price to play. Obviously the D-Backs want young, cheap, top talent. Either they get it or they keep him…
There is always a price that is too high to pay.
The bottom line is this: if the price tag would make a team weaker, then there is no point in trading for him.
Likewise, if Arizona’s aim is to get cheaper and better, then they should take the best deal that allows them to achieve that…whether it is an “overpay” or not.
Exactly Theodore.
That’s why some of the trade suggestions here (Romero, Stewart, Snider + + + for Upton) are absurd. Fair value or a modest overpay is one thing, but no team is going to think ‘I want Upton so badly that I’m going to decimate my team to get him.’ What would be the point? You’d be better off not making the deal.
Stewart in a deal for him wouldn’t be an overpayment but it was ridiculous seeing Romero +++ or Snider + Drabek ++ or Snider + Cecil ++. Nobody will give up that much major league talent or guys with the upside they have.
Hechavarria, Stewart, D’arnaud and Cecil. . . . If the Dbacks get more then that in a trade for Upton, I will buy a Randy Johnson DiamondBacks jersey and become the teams biggest fan.
In terms of value, I’d say that’s a solid deal but I don’t think anyone of those guys will become “stars”. Like, they are good players and could be solid contributors but I don’t think any of them will become great or have the potential to become great. Which is why they would ask for Snider or Drabek, they have potential to become stars.
Sorry, but anything that includes Cecil, Drabek or Snider is too much to pay. I wouldnt care that the D’backs want Major League players. I would make them an offer of some top young players like Hech, Stewart, Arencibia, Gose, etc. and if they dont want it, you walk away. Oh and saying that Cecil doesnt have star power, I beg to differ. The guy was in his first full season of starting and went 15-7 with some decent peripherals in the toughest division in baseball. 2-1 against Boston, 4-0 against NY, and 3-1 against Tampa… Those numbers speak for themselves. Oh and he’s 24 years old. This reminds me of the whole Rios for Cain or Lincecum issue from a few years ago. We were hoping beyond hope for that to happen, because you just dont trade excellent pitching for good “maybe” great hitting. SF looks good for not going the stupid route, dont they? And before anyone says it, I am not saying Cecil will be the “NEXT ONE” like the 2 mentioned. I’m just using a similar situation as a comparison. The conversation ends for me if you talk about any of Marcum, Cecil, Morrow, Romero or Drabek, and Snider is off limits as well. You dont sit on and groom a player of his talents for so long just to cut him loose for a guy who can play a little bit better defensively. Snider has every chance to hit just as well as the projections for Upton indicate. He has 40+, 100+, 300+, 500 + talent as well and if it werent for Cito he may already be there at the age of 22. He is primed for his breakout season.
Like I said, Hech, Stewart, D’Arnaud and Mastrioani, maybe put a Rzep in the conversation as a possible starting option or you walk away.
Toronto isn’t walking away from that.. Arizona is. I think you have to at least deal Drabek as the centerpiece to get Upton.
it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that one of d’arnaud , stewart or hech will become stars..