He hit 31 HR last year and that was great. But, even when he’s not dialing up long distance, like this season (9-HR), to see him stretch a single into a double or a double into a triple is spectacular and has the fans up and roaring. Again though, we’ve rarely seen those sights this season.

Focus, concentration, tunnel-vision, call it what you will. Just like the Dust Storms that come and go here in the desert, so it is with Justin Upton.

If you ask Upton, he’s never taken a “true” called 3rd strike in his career. It’s always the ump’s fault. And, if he’s called out on strikes early in the game, he’ll wear that rage against the man in blue all game long. Defensively, he goes through stages of jogging after fly balls that require more of his speed in order to make routine plays. He’ll cut off a ball down the line or in the gap and then hold the ball, daring the runner to take an extra base on him, and THEY DO. He’s dropped more “cans of corn” than I care to mention. And anything hit hard over his head in RF is a triple waiting to happen.

After consecutive games this year when the boos reached their peak, his post-game reaction was, “I don’t care what the fans think of me.” That comment drew the public ire of the Dbacks owner & and the GM, who both let it be known that Upton was, indeed, on the trade market.

Shame ot it all is, the kid can be everything one would associate with the term “superstar.” It’s really up to him.

And for that reason we are likely to let Santana play out his contract and hope by then Niese has risen to ACE status to fill that role.

We lost our playoff race this year due to starting pitching so whatever we feel about the regular starters the truth is if the pitching had held we wouldn’t be so worried about the rest of the team at this point.

Sure they could be better but the might also not need to be better if the Pitching was better as well. (not even talking about the Bullpen at this point!)

Could better hitting lead to more wins for the pitching we have? Sure if that same Bullpen we all know sucks could hold games for us qand our starters.

And the reason we are here talking about Upton is really all about nthe fact it is easier to improve on a guy like Bay, Torres and Duda than it is to improve on guys like Santana, Dickey, Niese and Gee. (may not be so hard to improve on Gee and Young mind you but Pitching IS hard to come by as we both agree!)

SO this Upton talk is all about the easier path but the price tag for him makes the original situation that put us here worse not better. making for little gain, high risk and not in all that much better a position unless some better Pitchign falls from the sky at a price this FO is willing to spend which is not going to happen even on a cold day in hell when the moon is blue!

If we were talking about Pujols type who consistently gets you 40 Hrs a year you might do it.
But I don’t know Upton can ever be that especially not in this stadium and truth be told I doubt even Pujols is a 40 HR guy if he comes here!

We need to build the rotation, thats the key to NL East! Win the NL East and your good enough to win any other division in the NL! That means your good enough to get the WIldcard where pitching again is the thing that wins you the championship!

I’ll give away 4 or 5 even 6 players, to get a guy like Upton or any RH Power hitting OFer provided those players are not guys who can adequatly fill out our starting rotation.

Which is why Familia is a trade chip option for me as he seems to be incapable of breaking into our rotation where he might break into someone else’s such as Colorado or even Arizona.
Arizona would like Pitching for any trade. But even our second tier Pitchers such as Familia could be an upgrade to them.

I’ll give them Quantity and talent in the vein of Flores, Duda and Familia…
But not a Wheeler or Harvey we need them a lot more than we need upton IMO.

Thats not a knock on Upton but just a kudos to harvey and Wheeler considering what it was that cost us this year’s playoff chance!

So you’re saying he’s similar to D.Wright in a sense

Oh ok, I see I was just trying to break down the splits since it was a major contention of yours. I wouldnt trade Harvey or Wheeler neither because i believe they will pan out and I cant remember when was the last time our farm produced 2 high potential power arms.

And the best way to build a pitching rotation in my opinion is through the farm not signing them for what they are being paid now on the open market.

We’ve done well so far with Niese(a solid 3) and Gee(a solid 4,5) and i like Harvey’s attitude always takes the blame no matter how well he pitches leadership quality right there…Holding yourself accountable for the teams success or failure

But I dont think AZ would be too interested in harvey, wheeler theyre more interested in infield prospects they need/want 3B,SS prospects but who knows

The issue for me is what it’s going to take to get him is probably more than we will get back from him once he plays for us.

Even at his worst he is a damn site better to have than any other OFer we have played this year or will play next year!

Even if all we got was 20-26 HRs and an average around .260 it would be a major improvement to the lineup.

But is that worth losing a frontline starter in Wheeler or Harvey to get?

Thats my real issue here…
If it was a deal for Flores Familia Mejia and Duda I would be happy to do it.
But everyuone insists it’s going to take a Harvey or Wheeler and thats too much for what we might get in return.

2009
H – .305 BA 14 Hrs
A – .296 BA 12 Hrs

2010
H – .282 BA 8HRs
A – .264 BA 9 HRs

2011
H – .333 BA 20 HRs
A – .246 BA 11 HRs

2012
H – .279 BA 5 HRs
A – .268 BA 4 HRs
Now granted 2012 is a little more than half done but he is going to have a hard time getting to even 15 HRs at home at his current pace.

I see the pattern here that says when he hits the same home and away he stops hitting all those Home Runs everyone seems to think he is capable of hitting. And mostly because he stops hitting them everywhere home AND away!

2009 and 2010 seemed to be his only case of consitency and then it seems like every other year he goes from equal BA low HRs to Unequal BA and Way more HRs at home than away!

It really proves what I’m saying his high BA at home is all about all those HRs he hits and when he doesn’t hit them his BA drops to what it is everywhere else!

Everyone thinks Wright is the main target this offseason there gonna be upset when they find out its Hairston and a Willie Harris reunion…lol

You just described almost every player in the MLB what player hasnt throw there helmet and bat down out of frustration???

And when you say BOO’s from the fans are you talking about the racial slurs Upton and Chris Young receive nightly from the Arizona fan base??

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/20120706chris-young-justin-upton-say-racial-slurs-from-spectators-arent-surprise.html

Sounds more like you should be calling the Arizona fanbase punks instead of Upton.

Those stats are based on 2 years

His rookies season in 2008 which he was only 20 yrs old in the majors
Home – .321BA .407OBP .632SLG 1.039OPS 12 HRs
Away – .169BA .291OBP .271SLG .562OPS 3 HRs

And in 2011 where coincidently he was 4th runner up for the NL MVP award
Home – .333BA .411OBP .622SLG 1.033OPS 20 HRs
Away – .246BA .328OBP .439SLG .767OPS 11 HRs

Other than those two seasons his stat line has been roughly even when it comes to his home and away splits. I’ll take that any day from one of the best young talents in the league. And we must remember we are talking about the track sheet of a kid who is only 24 yrs old!!!

Our best OF option is Lucas Duda and he just got a sniff of the league at age 25, at age 24 Upton is already an established talent with big upside.

Mets biggest problem over the years when bringing in players through free agency or trades was they got these players when they were on the downside of their careers. If Upton is available and youre the mets you should jump at that deal especially since you have NO options on the major league club nor do you have any OF prospects on the way. No Brainer!

Cause I see a huge disparity in his numbers home vs away.

Couldn’t agree more.

Sorry for the sarcasm; I couldn’t help myself.