23
2012
If You Want A Big Time Player Like Upton You Better Pay Up
An article by 
There are a ton a rumors swirling around regarding Justin Upton. This has led to rampant speculation on whether or not that Mets should be in especially with the Mets’ need for a right-handed bat and the GM’s almost daily reminder that his team will be buyers. That’s all fine and dandy, but one thing we all need to realize is that we have to look at and trade from the Diamondbacks perspective and that if you want Upton it’s going to cost you a lot, and that we would most likely have to part with one or two prospects that you don’t want to lose.
Can you imagine Upton teaming up with Wright to lead this club?
I’ve been reading a lot of hypothetical trades for Upton in comment threads this month, but none of them are very realistic.
Yes, Upton is having a down year this season so far, but that doesn’t mean the D’backs are just going to give him away. Lets not forget that he’s only 24 and will only get better.
The D’backs are not going to trade him to us for a song, they are going to demand a HUGE haul, and I mean huge.
Upton, the former number one overall pick in the 2005 Draft, has shown exceptional speed, above average power and he hasn’t even tapped into his full potential yet.
His career highs coming into this season show everything you need to know about him::
- Avg: .300
- OBP: .369
- HR: 31
- RBI: 88
- SB: 21
- RS: 105
- WAR 6.4
Not to mention that Upton comes with a team-friendly and very affordable contract that has him locked up through for his talent and is locked up through 2015. He signed a 6-year deal worth $51.25 million in 2010 that will pay him $7 million in 2013, $10 million in 2014 and roughly $15 million in both 2015.
Did I forget to mention he is a right handed bat and plays a solid right field (2009-2012 UZR 25.9)?
Let’s look at one trades I’ve seen discussed:
Familia, Flores and Nieuwenhuis - Not enough and won’t work
Familia is likely a bullpen arm in the future. Flores struggled prior to this season, but still is young and has potential. His resurgence this season should interest teams, but he still isn’t s ure thing and doesn’t even have a natural position. Kirk has some value and could be intriguing to a team, but he is more likely a 4th outfielder or a bottom of the order hitter on a contending team.
If I were dealing Upton and were looking at the Mets farm system, this is what I would demand in a deal.
- Wheeler or Harvey, I would insist on Wheeler, settle for Harvey but one of the 2 would have to be in the deal.
- Flores
- Familia or Fulmer, preferably Fulmer
- Den Dekker, Marte, or Nieuwenhuis
That may seem like a lot to you, but if you want a franchise type player who could be a part of your organization for the next 10 years you have to pay big for that. Just look at what the Nationals gave up to acquire Gio Gonzalez. It cost them 3 of their top 10 prospects to land the young lefty. A couple of years ago it took Carlos Gonzalez and Huston Street to get Matt Holliday.
Upton is a great talent and players of his skill set don’t come available very often at such a young age. You want to know why he is worth giving up so much? Just look at our positions players in the Minors and tell me we have anyone even remotely in his league coming through our system. You can’t because we don’t. It’s worth it and Sandy should be at least looking into this.
About the Author: Dan Valis
I am a staff writer for Mets Merized Online. I am a Mets team analyst with a focus on the minor league system, as well as the major league club. I am a lifelong New Yorker who was born and raised to be a Mets fan. The ups and downs of being a Mets fan is what makes following this team so much fun, but at times so frustrating. You can follow me on Twitter @BgAppleMetsTalk.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 25 | 18 | .581 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 21 | .523 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 23 | .477 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 24 | .415 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 12 | 32 | .273 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/19/2013
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I was the one that suggested Flores/Familia/Kirk (I also added den dekker)
I don’t disagree with your premise. My point was not “lets offer this” my point was “this is as high as I’d go.”
I wouldn’t trade Wheeler, Harvey, Tejada for Upton. That was my point.
Yeah I wouldn’t trade Harvey or wheeler either Id rather give up a bunch of bats, aces are hard to raise in minors.
Dan, I would make that deal every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Upton is that good and this team just does not score enough runs to overcome their shoddy pitching. If the D-backs are shopping him and Sandy doesn’t pick up the phone to make this deal happen, it will be a HUGE mistake. This is a guy who could help us make the playoffs not only this year, but for many years to come. If the Mets could get Upton and D-Wright on the team together as the leaders of this team not only on the field, but in the clubhouse, it could be the first step towards a return to the dominance this team had in the mid to late 80s.
Sandy Alderson said he is not in need of a RH bat… So.. there’s that. good article but it doesn’t even matter, with this GM in place we’ll be goign the cheap direction with players for years to come. We are in serious problems with this man as the GM.
Not necessarily. But when you pass on bats like Joey Gallo in the supplemental round and take Plawecki, you are screwing up. FYI, Gallo, a plus-power bat from high school, has 11 hrs in 88 at bats so far. (1400 ops) Plawecki’s OPS is around 760.
This is the type of trade you do when you already have your core in place and you need one more piece to complete the team. Doing this trade now would cost us pieces we need to compete.This team is a lot farther away than that. Now, if we could get B.J. Upton, that might be doable. We wouldn’t need to burn our best prospects or current players, and we get back speed, some power, and a good defensive player.
First off it really doesn’t matter what they want for him, They can ask for the solar system but they will only get what people think Upton is actually worth to them and they see his splits home and away plus all the side issues and baggage Upton brings with him.
They can ask for whatever they want but that doesn’t mean you have to meet thier demands.
Truth is most of you who are willing to pay Harvey or Wheeler are paying for name recognition not actual MLB performance.
There are plenty of other deals out there that get you as much but don’t have the NAME TAX associated with it.
i.e. Dexter Fowler (Rockies) – Could fill the CF position, Switch Hits and is only 26.Colorado needs Pitching and Mejia, Familia, even Young could be packaged with the guys we have mentioned for Upton not named Harvey or Wheeler.
If you throw some MLB talent in there (Duda, Murphy, Young) you don’t have to give up top prospects, just a few minor ones.
And instead of looking for the next Blockbuster which this GM seems adverse to doing even in the best of times, The key to fixing this team is to make a few minor trades to fill in the holes such as Bullpen and CF (I would say Catcher but there isn’t much of anything out there!)
I just think many of you guys are trading based on Upton’s Name recognition and not his actual performance. He’s not quite as good as some of you think and while you might be correct that they will ask for the moon for him it doesn’t mean we have or should give into them.
Let them keep him and pay him and when whatever it is that makes them want to trade him in the first place comes to roost you will get him for a song and a dance!
Upton is definitely a franchise type player, but I’m pretty sure Alderson is not going to take on that contract which was heavily backloaded. The big news this morning is that the yankees are going after him anyway, let them have that contract not us.
Kramer: If he’s a franchise player, how come his own franchise is looking to get rid of him at age 24?
I’m FOR Upton if the price was right. But if you’re telling me either harvey, wheeler or tejada have to go then I’m passing,
I don’t think he IS a franchise player. He is a 6th or 7th hitter on a good team. Never driven in 100 yet. I think these offers would be to much. Parnell and Murphy might be more than enough.
Agree people are thinking more o0f him than he has actually done merely because they know his name!
I second your thought on him not being a franchise player. That is not to say he isn’t a very good player but I am suspect about what he could do numbers wise if he played half his games here in New York. I also would not equate him and what it would cost to get him with a Gio Gonzalez. In my opinion if the Mets are going to be giving up the type of prospects being bandied about they should do it looking for a Gio Gonzalez type of pitcher and not Upton in my opinion.
Again, why are we discussing this again? SA the man with the power said he is not going after a RH bat. Justin Upton is RH, it will not happen, no matter how much we wish it, it will not happen, we should not expect any big time FA signing or trades with this man as the GM.
Alex, we are discussing because Dan Vallis wrote about it.
You try to act like Sandy doesn’t tell the truth anyway so how come when he says he won’t get a bat, you take that as gospel?
How else am i supposed to take it??? I got nothign against the article, i am sure Dan Valis wrote it with good intensions.. Hell, i just like him WANT upton, but i have come to the conclusion that we should AIM low, really really low in terms of acquiring any type of player.. Instead of looking a nice good players in free agency, we should start looking from the bottom up. when looking for a trade, with this front office we likely will be the sellers, giving away OUR all stars to other teams to shave more payroll. there should be no expectations whatsoever in acquiring good players, none.
Well Alex he also said that Harvey wouldn’t be brought up as well…
I have to give Jessup a plus here at least he is admitting Sandy’s word is only good for 30 seconds after he says something!
How many flip flops have we seen this year alone?
As for why people are talking about it?
They have given up on the season and whats left to do but play Fantasy trade when the baseball being played no longer is entertaining to them?
Personally I don’t see why everyone has gone into a panic….
They should have seen this coming since we have not beaten good teams all year long!
We won 3 of 4 from the dodgers because Eithier and Kemp were pout not because we are actually better than them!
We COULD have been better than them but we killed any chance of that in the offseason!
Power is an organizational need. That said, there is NO WAY this front office will make a move like this. He’d be nice and we have the prospects to trade, but it wont happen. He’ll end up going to the Yankees over the winter.
My offer would be Flores, Fulmer, Tovar, Mejia and Daniel Murphy.
That’s as high as I’d go.
i’d do that. I think AZ would tell you to keep Murph though
That’s a great offer and it benefits both teams. As for jessep, not sure why he chose to knock Murphy, but he’s always good for stuff like that.
One guy I also love on the D’Backs is the underrated Aaron Hill who is signed through 2013 and gives us a bonafide second baseman and savvy veteran.
Maniac, look at Arizona before you take my Murphy comment as an insult please?
Nobody’s gonna trade for Murph on the premise he can do anything but hit, 2b or LF maybe. They aren’t going to buy that he once played 3B because they likely haven’t seen it.
Murph isn’t taking a job from Kubel or Hill.
Tuth is this whole discussion will be moot if we lose two of three or worse to the Nats.
Then we will be sellers which is where Sandy would rather be anyway!
When he said he was a Buyer that was just fan lip service. He never ever really intended to make a trade of any significance just pick up marginal players who were unaffordable to the team they were with that he could purge at the end of the year if they didn’t pan out.
If you folks really want to start looking for REAL DEALS we are likely to make start looking for guys who are not all that good, not horrible, that some team wants to dump from it’s payroll.
The deal for Quintanilla for cash should tell you all you need to know about what Sandy is really interested in getting.
You mean they didn’t have one marginal pitcher he could use for the pen inexchange for Quintanilla?
Nope Sandy is all about the MONEY!
And I think we have a name for that it’s called MOEYBALL!
I would not “trade the farm” for Upton if there is to be a trade. His contract sounds as if it is not a salary dump from the owner’s perspective so it would take a hefty package. Upton and an arm for Familia and pitching prospects form a lower level in the minors Evans (SS), Duda, Nieuwenhuis.
Some package deal.
I said something similar when this 1st came up. The only way the Mets could get Upton is if we give up Wheeler or Harvey, and Flores in a deal – I don’t see any other way it would work.
Give them Harvey and whoever else they want prospect
Sorry…prospect wise
Well I gotta say, at least for this one day, this site is BY FAR the best site for interesting debates and Mets chatter. I am enjoying reading the comments threads on your posts today and this is what all blogs should aspire to all the time. Anyway, keep it up.
He is not a Franchise player, Upton is a better Francouer. Do you give up your best prospects for him?