Upton Rejects Mariners, is There a Match with Mets?

One of the worst kept secrets in New York is that the Mets are in desperate need of an outfielder with major league talent.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are brimming with such players and have been trying hard to trade beleaguered but talented outfielder Justin Upton. Seems like a perfect fit, right?

Not exactly. The Diamondbacks are looking for major league ready players, the Mets don’t have a lot of hitters that fit that bill and after trading R.A. Dickey to Blue Jays, the Mets don’t exactly have a surplus of big league pitching anymore either. But as mentioned above, the Diamondbacks are motivated to move Upton. In fact, they did move him this week, agreeing to terms on a multi-player offer from the Mariners that would’ve sent Upton to Seattle.

But Upton has a partial no trade clause and the Mariners are one of the four teams on his list, so Upton turned down the trade. CBS Sports reports that the Cubs, Blue Jays and Red Sox are the other teams on that list. By process of elimination and cognitive reasoning I can then decipher that the Mets are NOT on Upton’s list and therefore can acquire Upton without his approval. With that in mind, I took to Twitter tonight to gauge what fans might offer the Diamondbacks for Upton if they were in the position of Mets GM.

Ok #MetsTwitter. Three players to get Upton. Name your best offer.

— d’evON (@DevOnSports) January 11, 2013

The results of that question were mixed and can be seen below:

@devonsports Wheeler, Snydergaard and Tovar — Matt Clausen (@mattclausen) January 11, 2013

Wow, that’s a big offer and would probably get it done, but Wheeler is one of like four players I wouldn’t include in this deal. Upton is coming off a down year and the Diamondbacks are a little too eager to move him for me to part with the No. 2 pitching prospect in the game.

@devonsports mccugh, tejada, neuwenheis — James Murphy (@JMurphy312) January 11, 2013

@devonsports trade mejia, lutz, and Flores

— Richard Benson (@metsjetsrangers) January 11, 2013

Flores is a nice starting point, but Mejia projects to most as a bullpen arm and Lutz isn’t much of a prospect anymore. Plus I doubt very much the Diamondbacks are seeking two third basemen.

Quintanilla, Valdespin, Elvin Ramirez RT @devonsports: Ok #MetsTwitter. Three players to get Upton. Name your best offer.

— Alex K (@KopaKola) January 11, 2013

You could’ve just said. “I don’t want Justin Upton.” Moving on…

Dickey, Thole and Nickeas RT”@devonsports: Ok #MetsTwitter. Three players to get Upton. Name your best offer.” — Mark E (@TooGooden16) January 11, 2013

 

Turner, JV1 & @gregpomesRT @devonsports: Ok #MetsTwitter. Three players to get Upton. Name your best offer. — Scott(@Pilam76) January 11, 2013

DEAL!

@devonsports Duda, Kirk and, Gee? — Rob (@RobHill48) January 11, 2013

The problem here is that the Diamondbacks already have too many outfielders, so it’s doubtful they’d want to take on a few fringy guys like Kirk and Duda. I do think Gee could factor into a potential deal though.

@devonsports Flores, Mejia and Tovar. — Sam Neumann (@Crazy4NYSports) January 11, 2013

This seems to be on the right track, especially given the reported (Fox Sports) Mariners offer of Nick Franklin, Charlie Furbush and Stephen Pryor. But that package also included a choice of Taijuan Walker,  Danny Hultzen or James Paxton, Seattle’s No. 2, 3 and 4 prospects according to Baseball America. So the Mets might have to sweeten the pot a bit.

@devonsports Not way the D-Backs do this, but I would be willing to give up Flores, Fulmer, and Tapia. Not totally convinced I like Upton. — Greg Kantor (@gkantor_18) January 11, 2013

@devonsports Actually, swap out Cecchini for Tapia. — Greg Kantor (@gkantor_18) January 11, 2013

Got this one a few times and it’s pretty good, but don’t they have to wait a year after he was drafted to trade Cecchini?

@devonsports Flores..Syndegaard..and duda.

— Chris R (@ChrisNY83) January 11, 2013

Flores and Syndergaard are the right track, but I don’t think Duda is a good fit for a team that has Jason Kubel, a smaller, less defensively inept version of Duda.

@devonsports Flores, Familia, Nimmo

— J_Stabach11 (@JoeStabach) January 11, 2013

@devonsports Flores, Fulmer, Vaughn/Puello, though I’d think they’d want players closer to the majors.

— Mitch (@MitchNYM) January 11, 2013

@devonsports Wilmer Flores, Michael Fulmer, Brandon Nimmo. I’m guessing not enough, but Flores fills their need at 3rd. — d’mistermet (@_mistermet) January 11, 2013

@devonsports But seriously, Flores, Fulmer, and Familia. — Jay C. (@jcnyc_) January 11, 2013

These last four are all solid packages and I think out of the five names in total mentioned, there could be a deal here. Flores is a slight downgrade from Franklin, a shortstop who I covered in high school in Orlando. He’s the real deal, though, like Flores, he might not stick at short. Familia fits the bill of what they’d be looking for in Pryor. Then you put in a Fulmer or Syndergaard as the top prospect arm (or Nimmo if they’d rather an outfield prospect) and finally a Vaughn, Puello or perhaps a bullpen arm to match what they’d be getting with Furbush.

So what say you Mets fans? Is Justin Upton worth a three top 10 prospects and another player?

One Comment

1. 

   pain

   January 11, 2013 at 1:54 pm

   Flores,familia,Santana

   Reply