With less than one month remaining in the regular season it’s time for some teams to look ahead to the offseason. Here’s the latest on a pair of potential trade candidates…
- Justin Upton is aware that this could be his final month with the Diamondbacks, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. Upton said he’s comfortable in Arizona, but prepared for the possibility of a trade. "I'm in a good place right now," he told Piecoro. "I'm in a good place mentally about it.” The Diamondbacks considered trade offers for Upton this summer and haven’t publicly ruled out the possibility of a winter trade.
- Baseball officials wonder if the Mets would trade Jon Niese, Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger reports. Rival executives have noticed Niese’s production (3.55 ERA in 165 innings) and believe the left-hander could bring the Mets a quality return in a potential trade. One executive told McCullough the Mets could get two or three prospects for Niese and others compared him to Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill. Niese is under team control through 2018 after signing a five-year, $25.27MM extension this spring.
- Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog weighs in and explains why the Mets would likely target "an established, young, under-control position player" if they put Niese on the market. Cerrone wonders if the Mets could match up with the Diamondbacks on a possible deal involving Upton and explains why trading Niese for a legitimate outfield bat could appeal to GM Sandy Alderson.
I think a Niese trade makes sense because the Mets are relatively deep in pitching depth, although most of that depth is at low levels. Dickey-Wheeler-Harvey-Mejia-Gee is not bad. Losing Niese would hurt for sure. I would look for 3 prospects, 1 position player and maybe 1 starting pitcher and 1 closer-type reliever. Not sure that I like Upton though, would want someone who hasn’t yet cracked the majors.
Sorry Mets Bloggers…..ARZ has an enviable surplus of pitching and any Trade of Upton will need to involve Position players and high upside arms a few years away from the show. Niese will bring a nice little prospect package to the Mets but to mention Upton shows the writer did very little research
A “surplus of pitching” isn’t really a thing. Not that I’m necessarily saying it would be a good move for Arizona but… talk to a Blue Jays fan about pitching surpluses.
Coming from a Jays fan, you couldn’t be more correct. You can never have too much pitching, which is why Anthopolous has been drafting so many pitchers even before the injuries were occurring. I can see the Jays packaging Sierra, Arencibia, Jenkins and Nicolino to the D-Backs for Upton.
pretty sure that the D-backs say hell no to that offer. None of those players have enough upside. Sierra is probably a 4th outfielder. The dbacks have a catcher signed long-term. Jenkins has not developed into a legitimate major-league starter. Nicolino is a nice piece, but he is far away and some see him as a mid-back of the rotation starter.
Have to agree with this no matter how common it is for pitching surpluses to crumble. Kennedy, Hudson, Cahill, Miley, Corbin, Bauer, Skaggs, Bradley is a lot of arms to build around.
But everyone just explained that teams with similar, if not better, surpluses are still having issues.
I like how the Upton Bros. have been trade candidates seemingly every year, but have yet to have anything happen
I like how they both showed flashes of brilliance and then came back down to earth…
It’s sad how many tools those two have but can’t always put it together. They would be superstars if they lived up to 85 % of what they could have been.
Yea I remember a couple of years ago (I believe it was 08) where BJ had 4 homers 11 rbis vs the Red Sox. I actually thought that after that he was due to breakout the following year but it just never happened.
yeah, 9 in the whole season, and 7 in playoffs
He had a shoulder injury that year..
If the Mets look to move Jon Niese, I can see the Jays being pretty interested, as they love acquiring controllable talent. They were rumoured to have interest in him last offseason as well.
The Mets could be in the market for a catcher this offseason too, so JP Arencibia could make some sense in return. (As part of the return, I’d think the Jays would need to surrender more than just JP.)
Still think Texas makes the most sense. With Beltre locked up and Profar potentially the ss of the future I could see a deal around olt or andrus and maybe a lower prospect
A Niese for Upton trade could make a lot of sense for both sides. May need to add a player or two to really convince me.
Not unless the player you add is Zach Wheeler.
Just a shot in the dark, but with money coming off the payroll this winter ($14M for Chipper, $10M for Lowe, and $5.5M if they non-tender Jurrjens), the Braves could potentially reunite the Upton brothers by trading for Justin and signing BJ to an FA deal.
Move J-Up to LF and Prado to 3B. 2013 batting order (in no particular order) would be Simmons, Prado, Freeman, Heyward, J-Up, B-Up, McCann, Uggla.
That actually would be a kinda cool idea for the Braves. Justin Upton has one of the most team friendly contracts in the game in terms of what he brings and has the potential of bringing. BJ might do well with a change of scenery, playing with his brother, etc. Its something they should look in to. Their are cons, of course.
i want upton for myself, but if someone else has to get him i’d like it to be atlanta. a 2-3 (or 3-4) of heyward and upton would be so much fun
will middlebrooks, allen webster, bryce brentz, and pedro ciriaco (he’s legit trust me (no takebacks))
I’m assuming that’s for Upton. You’d be okay moving Middlebrooks? His swing and misses bother me but he’s shown he has what it takes for his brief stint before injury.
i would actually enjoy moving middlebrooks. he isn’t bad, but he isn’t as good as people think he is right now. that’s when you sell
I’d honestly be more upset about losing Webster in that package than Middlebrooks.
No chance. Niese would be a great pickup, but you’re talking about trading 3 of the Sox top 7 prospects for him, plus a guy who might not have peaked yet in PC. Webster or Brentz alone, combined with a few lower-tier prospects, would be fair. We’re not talking about trading for a true, proven #1 here.
no interest in niese at all
After all these 0-4 games bouncing around .269-.280-.269, I see Upton definitely somewhere else. Eaton is a regular , so is Parra, Kubel, and Chris Young. That’s their OF. In May through the ASG I heavily lobbied KCR to trade Mostakas, Fancouer, and any combo of Cain, Dyson, Clint Robinson, for Upton and Eaton. KC could have had Eaton , W. Myers , Upton, with Gordon@3B.
Now that trade doesn’t make sense because of how the AZ OF has hit. They need a left side of the IF, and yeah, pitching. Never can have enough. I think AZ may trade Upton for blue chip minor leaguers.
BOS won’t trade Middlebrooks, ATL would be great setting for Upton, how about Nationals? He’s from VA. Actually, I just hope he stays in the Cactus League, that’s probably what he wants. So no ATL or WAS, or big money northeast organization.
The Mets are a tough sell, it said in an earlier post that they will be on a tight budget. I don’t know what they have coming off the books and even though Upton’s contract is not a monster, very affordable next year but then spikes in 2014 and 2015 (I think about 13-14 mil per in those years). Not to mention, they are in rebuilding mode and have to decide on Wright and fill more than one or two players to improve their roster.
Assuming the finances fit, the Braves are a great spot. Chipper retires (money off the books), Prado to 3rd and Upton to LF……and they have the farm system to make the trade.