Some links from around the league as Friday turns into Saturday…
- "I'm open-minded on anybody, everybody. Even guys who have no-trade clauses," said Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert when asked about the Justin Upton rumors. "You ask people when I was in San Diego, same exact response. I think you always have to be open-minded."
- Chase Headley told MLB.com's Corey Brock and Chelsea James that despite the trade rumors, he'd prefer to stay with the Padres. "If it were my choice, I would love to be here," said the third baseman.
- Ryan Dempster will be activated off the DL on Sunday, and he told MLB.com's Carrie Muskat that he knows the trade rumors will start right back up. “They’ve been there," said the Cubs right-hander. "That stuff doesn’t bother me. I’ll just try to do my job the best I can and let those things take care of themselves."
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.com suggests the Padres trade Carlos Quentin at the trade deadline then sign him as a free agent this offseason. Quentin is a San Diego native and thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement, they would not have to surrender a draft pick.
That is exactly what the Padres should do. Tell him that they want to give him a chance at winning a World Series he wouldn’t have a chance at getting while playing this year. Because he is a SD native, reach an under the table agreement with Quentin that he will sign back with them this Offseason with a new chance to compete on a healthy Padres team. From a Padres standpoint, you get prospects from the trade and are then able to retain Quentin. It’s a dirty move and one that probably wouldn’t be liked, but its definitely smart from a business standpoint. Sweet talk Quentin into making him believe how important he is as the cleanup hitter in Petco park but really feel happy because you got prospects as well. It’s a genius idea, but probably more easily said than done. Regardless, kudos to JPM for bringing that idea to the surface.
that’s an easy thing to say during the season but when there are people outbidding the padres in the offseason its hard for a player to walk away from guaranteed years and money on the table.
I’m not saying it can’t be done, but tell me, how often has it happened in history?
ie: Trade away a rental player, only to re-sign him in the offseason as a free agent
Cliff Lee anyone? philly just did it two years ago. traded him to seattle to get halladay, in the off season took less money then what the rangers and yankees offered and went back to philly, AFTER philly was not even in the running until a couple days before he was going to make a decision and the same day the phillies made their offer he signed that night. which gave philly the halladay,lee,oswalt,hamels staff. although didnt happen Lee had his chance in a world series ring with both texas and philly.
its very possible it could happen again this off season if philly trades hamels. Texas would be stupid to give up their top prospects just like any other team would be just for a two month rental and the possible chance of hamels resigning with the phils in the off season.
thats where i think things need to change. either tht player has to play a full season with his new team after being traded, or the team that trades him has to take cash and return the prospects they received back to the team that traded for that guy.
Baseball is as much as a business as it is a sport. The
difference is that cash is not the only commodity, but so are the players. If you
trade away a prospect, they are no longer a part of your team. It’s up to the
team to decide whether or not it is a good business move to forfeit some
prospects for a rental player.
Also, you shouldn’t call a team stupid for making rental
trades:
Look at the 2008 Brewers. They gave up a lot to grab
Sabathia, but since then their attendance levels have jumped 10%. You can argue
it was a bad move, but hey the Brewers now have a stable and increased
attendance; that’s a lot of money.
Look at the 2011 Cardinals; they won the World Series
because they grabbed a few rental players. Even then, the Cardinals lost one
player: Colby Rasmus, whom was readily replaced by Jon Jay.
Though not exactly a superstar, Brian Anderson was traded from Cleveland to Kansas City when KC was in contention, with the intention of re-signing him in the offseason. Both parties were in on the plan, and Anderson re-signed with Cleveland. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really an impact player on either team.
The only two places that should grab Upton are Toronto, Pittsburgh and (maybe) Seattle …
Interested teams are either lacking the necessary prospects (ex. almost everyone interested) or an empty position (ex. Cardinals).
Tampa might be a good fit, but that’s assuming they’re willing to raise payroll.
I doubt Pittsburgh would be interested. They got Starling Marte waiting in the wings. The Jays got Anthony Gose and Travis Snider also in Triple A. Seattle could be a fit though.
For the Blue Jays, assuming Travis Snider puts everything together, wouldn’t he just end up as Justin Upton v2.0?
As for Anthony Gose, well put Bautista at 1B and have Gose take over at RF. That should work?
But the question still becomes will Toronto part with a bunch of prospects? And another problem for Toronto is that the majority of their prospects are pitchers. Arizona doesn’t need any more pitching!
Can never have enough pitching. Look at toronto this year, 3/5 of their starters are injured. Plus the beauty of acquiring young starting pitchers is that they can later be flipped because they have so much value. Everyone is willing to pay big for a young controllable starter: latos and gio got huge hauls.
Fair statement.
Pittsburgh grabbing Upton would be a safe pick though. Marte is unproven in the majors and has some concerns with K/BB and pitch recognition. Upton is just having a down year. The problem is that getting Upton would require giving up some talent from the minors, most notably a starting pitcher and top 10 prospect. I’m not sure which route we should take. If we give up Marte and Taillon plus a few smaller prospects then I say go for it.
Wouldn’t that be three places ?
Maybe!
Almost EVERY team “should” grab Upton. He doesn’t make more than $14.5M in any year of his contract, and that kind of money doesn’t happen until 2014-15. Plenty of teams who need an OF could figure out the prospects to give up, it just depends on how badly they want him. Think about a team like Atlanta: deep in prospects, Chipper at 3B about to retire, Prado in LF who actually fits better as a 3B, Bourn in CF likely to leave, and payroll to burn when he does.
You also have to realize, a guy like Upton will command way more than what Halladay, Lee or Sabathia did. This is simply because Upton is under team control until 2015.
If I’m Kevin Towers, I would want at least 4 of Atlanta’s top prospects.
How about Detroit? Have you seen our RF/LF production or rather lack there of? Also, putting Upton in the 2-hole, taking some of the pressure off him, and batting him before MCab and Prince Fielder? Legendary. We have Castellanos and Turner, who would more than likely qualify as necessary prospects, with some lower A guys obviously also to be included
Turner and Castellanos are a good start, but the other prospects probably aren’t enough.
Remember the Halladay, Lee, Sabathia trades? Frankly, Upton is going to command much more than what the others got, simply because he is under team control until 2015.
Simply put: There’s NO NEED to trade Upton. If Kevin Towers isn’t amazed at the trade offers, he’ll just take Upton off the trade market. In reality, I think Towers is just gauging what Upton can garner in a trade scenario, with no intention on actually making a trade.
Turner is someone I would be quite hesitant to move. Have seen him throw in person several times (Lakeland Tigers) and that guy has his stuff nailed down.
Not a huge Tigers fan, but when someone is coming to town, or playing want to see will generally go to a game here and watch. Turner put on a show every time I went and saw him. He actually looks like the real deal and they probably are not looney enough to give him away. top of the rotation potential is nearly impossible to develop and Turner just might be another such guy.
I actually was at the game this season where he pitched against the devastating offense of the St. Louis Cardinals. Actually, a good friend of mine owns a small percentage of the Cardinals and we had seats right above the Cardinals away dug-out so I really got to scout him. I was impressed with his stuff to say the least. It’s not that I don’t have faith in the guy. I think he will be an ace someday too.
That being said, Upton is the exactly the type of player that they can afford to give up Turner for. He’s not a rental, but rather a 3-year investment. He fits perfectly in their “window of contention”. There is not a player even close to Upton’s caliber that they can acquire for only a 3-year commitment. They’d need to give Shane Victorino, BJ Upton, or Michael Bourne a “Jason Bay” type contract for them to even consider playing in Detroit. And all three are considered inferior players to Justin Upton’s potential. So instead of additional years, money, and draft picks, they give up Turner. With Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, Fister, and Smyly all under contract for the next 3 seasons, it’s a trade to at least consider.
Also, I do want to add that we were quite hesitant to move both Cameron Maybin (future Ken Griffey) and Andrew Miller for Miguel Cabrera, a young potential superstar who hadn’t quite reached his potential yet but could be under team control for multiple seasons.
before things get escalated let me paraphrase all headley opinions based on this news. ” Hadley is a bum cus he doesnt want to play for a winning team” “headley wants to show loyalty to his team he started with thats admirable” and so forth with commenters bickering back and forth
Ha, ha! I happen to think it’s admirable that the bum wants to stay!
The Padres have been collecting good players in their farm system-Headley is still young enough to part of the next good team they field.
trade upton plus prospects for pujols
Lets see here, Pujols, full no trade clause. Will be in the front office after he retires per contract. Nope sorry this idea equals total failure.
IPK + Melky for Justin Upton, DBacks gotta pick up some salary tho
Being “open-minded to anything” doesn’t mean he’s trading Justin Upton. It just means he’s doing his job properly.
Isn’t Justin Upton always on the trade block? Isn’t he also the one that gets blamed for everything that doesn’t go right for the Diamondbacks? And wouldn’t he look great in a Reds uniform? Am I the only one that thinks Upton needs out of Arizona in the worst way?
If he truly is available, I can see a lot of teams trying to obtain him.
He just looks good in a baseball uniform. Any team would want him.
Have you seen him out of a uniform? Now THAT is a sight to see. Beautiful specimen.
For Upton I would of Tallion, Lock, Mcgee, hague and Grossman. I would also take on his 3/4 of what is left on his contract. Gives Arizonia a major league ready 3rd,1st and starting pitcher. A cf prospect 2 years out from the major and a top flight pitcher.
Upton, cuth, Marte our your OF for a while Presley/tabata compete for 4th job loser gets moved a for a pitcher
garret Jones plays at first with jeff Clement giving him a blow. Harrison, Chase, Sutton all capable of backing up Pedro.
Justin Upton would make perfect sense for the Mets. The Mets BADLY need a RH power bat in their lineup right now with their mostly lefty-heavy, “we can’t hit LHP” lineup. Unlike last year where Upton was available, the Mets have a much stronger, deeper farm to give the D-Backs what they demand in return. If they ask for Harvey, Flores, Montero, Den Dekker and Vaughn (or maybe Taijeron?), done deal.