7:46pm: The Rangers are one of several clubs that placed a claim on Upton, reports MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. Since they have the best record in the AL, Texas is dead last on the waiver priority list for an NL player.
SATURDAY, 6:48pm: The Red Sox were not the claiming team, reports Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe (on Twitter). He reiterates that Upton will not be traded.
FRIDAY: Justin Upton has been claimed on waivers by an unidentified team, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (Twitter links). However, a Diamondbacks official said there's "no chance" of a trade this month.
Diamondbacks managing partner Ken Kendrick told reporters last month that it's a "reasonable assumption" that Upton will stay put for the remainder of the season. It's not at all uncommon for teams to determine trade interest by placing players — even stars — on the waiver wire.
Upton will earn $9.75MM in 2013, $14.25MM in 2014 and $14.5MM in 2015. His six-year, $51.25MM contract allows him to block moves to the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs and Indians.
The Diamondbacks now have until Sunday to select one of three options. They can let Upton (and his contract) go to the claiming team, they can complete a trade with the claiming team, or they can pull him back off of waivers. Expect Arizona to pull Upton back off of waivers.
National League teams had claiming priority on Upton, whose teammate, Joe Saunders, cleared waivers today. Upton, 25, has a .273/.356/.397 batting line with nine home runs in 472 plate appearances this year.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
I’ll just save you all the suspense.
It’s the Dodgers
Lol.. It probably is
Where would they put him?
Buckshort
Extremely doubtful considering just about everyteam could use him, probably didn’t get passed the top 2 teams (Astros/Cubs) in NL claims
figured everyone would catch the sarcasm…
past.
Dodgers??
Well, let’s see Houston and Chicago could both use him in the worst way. I wonder if he even was on the wire for more than 10 minutes.
i like the tag of “mystery team”
They’ve been really busy! Might be competitive next season.
Calling it right now: mystery team will win the world series next year.
We certainly believe so. This alleged addition of Justin Upton may or may not put us over the top.
DODGERS CLAIM ERRBODY!
Towers must have caught him with his daughter because 31 other GM’s wouldn’t even consider moving him.
so 29 baseball gm’s and 2 football gm’s?
^ I haven’t stopped laughing at this.
Yep. Have you seen the Jaguars offense?
I hear the Browns are looking for just about everything. Maybe J-Up could be an upgrade at QB or WR.
I voted down on Gator’s comment only because the arrow was pointing right at your comment. funny stuff.
Dodgers claim all players figuring they’d get at least one. Likely end up with Vernon Wells
There’s no chance he made it all the way through to the Dodgers. There are at least 5 or 6 other teams with worse recods in the NL that would have put a claim in on him.
Perhaps, though he’s still owed a decent chunk of change for his current production. So its not like he’s without some risk.
Why would ANY team claim V.W. when the Angels can dump that massive contract on them?
Umm…the Blue Jays did.
Breaking: Baseball teams want other teams’ good players.
Let me guess, claim awarded to the Dodgers.
What if it’s the Red Sox? Think about it … Red Sox send Adrian Gonzalez/Josh Beckett to LA… Prospects to Arizona from LA/and Some from Boston and Justin Upton to Boston?
No way Upton cleared all the NL teams.
Gota be the Dodgers
Blue Jays.
It would be a HUGE mistake by the Dbacks to go along with this…as a Dbacks fan I would be HIGHLY displeased!!!
A slow afternoon just picked up… big time.
A’s maybe (though that would mean him being passed by all NL teams which is unlikely). They had interest in him. Though the question would be where to put him (their outfield is full, along with Smith at the DH role).
I’m just imagining the Dodgers sounding like the seagulls in Finding Nemo whenever a player is put on a waivers.
MINE MINE MINE
I wonder if they’d be willing to take on my student loans in exchange for batboy duty. :S
I would bet that the Jays put in a claim, but doubt that they were awarded the claim.
Still have to work out a deal, which the Jays couldn’t do earlier in the season. Only way it works is if the DBacks take what AA offers…
I find it highly unlikely he even made it past the Astros.
And certainly not past the Cubs.
Please be the Phillies. A trade involving him and Halladay would fit both teams. I’m not positive Halladay is already on waivers, but odds are he probably cleared them, but it wasn’t public. Upton for Halladay, cash, Pierre, and something else.
The trade was just a suggestion, but they could think of something. I would be shocked to see Brown go, even though he makes a lot of sense to replace upton
If Halladay would have hit waivers it would have gone public just like Cliff Lee.
Not really. I mean, who knew upton was on waivers? And also, players like Vernon Wells or Jason Bay were surely placed on waivers by day 1, but we never heard anything. With few exceptions, the only teams we know publicly that are passing players though waivers are Arizona and Boston, but there are surely more waivers out there
I thought I saw MLBTR have Upton on Waivers a couple days ago.
Halladay wouldn’t accept a trade to Arizona. I doubt they even consider putting him on waivers. Don’t need any type of distraction, especially since there’s no chance they move him.
I’m sure Howard, Utley, Rollins, etc all went through waivers.
Wouldn’t e surprised if its the Dodgers. They would probably try to keep him away from being claimed by the Giants because the Giants have more to offer.
Mystery team strikes again!
Lord how I wish it were the Mets that claimed him but that would mean the Coupons actually opened their purse strings this year. With the looming $70+ million they expect to lose this season because they refused to spend to have a product that I and many other Mets fans refuse to pay to watch, safe to say that the Mets getting Upton is probably nothing more than my wishful thinking.
Couldn’t agree more….
AA, this your time! But if its the dodgers…i dont even know what id do.
I wonder…
All of you mentioning good NL teams, or AL teams, are out of your minds.
There is ZERO chance he made it past the Cubs, if he even made it past the Astros.
Okay…. it’s been 16 hours since this story broke. 1. Has Upton been pulled back yet? 2. I guess it ain’t the Dodgers this time – everybody seems to know everything ELSE they’re doing.
Well the Phillies have no outfield for next year so hopefully he’s a main target. Victorino clearly not in dodgers plans… Bj Upton – Victorino – Justin Upton OF next year?
The Phillies can pull another Cliff Lee and resign Victorino in the offseason.
Justin Upton will be traded at the end of the season to the Rangers for Elvis Andrus and some prospects ..Texas is thinking about there future Profar Ott and Upton
The batboy for the Indians has been claimed on waivers from the Dodgers.
To the Mets for David Wright or the Cardinals.
If the Astros aren’t the claiming team, then I don’t know if their fans should trust this “rebuilding” process.
Why would the Astros claim him? He has 3 years left on his contract and I doubt the Astros are going to be a competitive team any time soon. Also, the prospects that would have to be sent to AZ would serve more of a long term purpose to the Stros than Upton would for the next 3 years. No need in trading away prospects or taking on that kind of salary until there’s enough talent to surround an acquisition and turn the team into a viable competitor.
The Astros would claim him in the hopes that the Dbacks let them assume his contract. That’s what waivers are. Even if they don’t need him to compete, they could use him to draw in fans or bring back prospects in a trade.
With his contract and talent, any team would be stupid to not claim him.
a) There’s is ZERO indication, or any logical reason for that matter, that the Dbacks would just release him and let the claiming team ake Upton w/o getting anything in return. His performance/contract is NOWHERE near comparable to where VWells or A.Rios were when they were allowed to walk.
b) That same logic of obtaining a marquee player to put fans in the seats is the EXACT thing that got the Astros into the situation that they are in now.
c) Upton alone would not make them an above .500 team and if the other pieces are there then why make the deal?
d) It’s no guarantee that if they were to trade for Upton (because they won’t get him w/o trading prospects) and then flip him later, that they will get the same level of prospects back in return or more.
If you rebuild then you rebuild. Save your prospects and build the foundation from there.
I agree they shouldn’t trade for him. Why not claim him though? Just because they win the claim doesn’t mean they have to trade prospects. If the Dbacks don’t want to give him away, they pull him back. That happens all the time.
My point was that @facebook-44106972:disqus was making the case that if the Astros didn’t claim him then they weren’t serious about rebuilding. In theory, they could claim him and if the Dbacks were moronic enough to release him then they could flip him for prospect at next years deadline but there’s 0% chance the Dbacks would release him for nothing. His contract isn’t an albatross. He still has positive value and they can certainly get prospects back if they were serious about moving him.
For the record, VW didn’t walk on waivers. He was traded.
That’s such a crock. Never heard any reports of him being lazy or uninspired. I HATE when “naturally gifted athletes” are called lazy just because they are having an off season.
The fact that you think the Astros won’t be competitive in the next few years is exactly why they should claim a 25-year-old with superstar potential and a mostly-affordable contract. Really, there’s no loss in at least putting in the claim.
The likelihood of any prospect they’d surrender eventually becoming an impact player at the MLB level is almost nil compared to the likelihood of the impact Upton would have on their franchise.
Upton doesnt have the best attitude, I really dont see him playing hard for a team like Houston who pretty much has a AAA roster.
Dodgers.
I’d assume the Phillies put in a claim given their lack of outfield depth beyond Brown going forward. Would be surprised to see him have fallen even that far.
After getting a bit of salary relief? I’d bet on it.
I would bet the bank the Giants put in a claim, however Arizona would want a kings ransom and the keys to the stadium from a division rival.
I wouldn’t mind seeing him with the Cubs.
the pirates i bet.
If there is “no chance” of a trade of JU, why was he put on waivers in the first place?