Braves “Finishing up a Justin Upton Trade”

With apologies to all, we are nonetheless duty-bound to chase down every credible rumor that comes up.  And overnight, there was indeed another one.. and I think it has “legs”:

That’s pretty specific. Kiley McDaniel is not to be dismissed.  He’s worked for teams.  He’s now with fangraphs.  He has sources and connections.  But perhaps just as importantly, he doesn’t go around throwing out random rumors.

But now this morning, there’s this:

There are three parts of this to parse:

• Who
• What for
• What team

Let’s take a quick look at all three of these in turn:

Next: When Will the Blockbuster Come?

Who?

Justin Upton is named specifically.  That matters because there’s no indication of “others” – no Chris Johnson, no Evan Gattis… at least not at this time.  That makes a difference as we try to do the forensics work to decipher the “what team” part later.  Obviously, things can change, and often people might refer to rumors strictly by the headliner – and in any deal the Braves could conjure together, Justin would be the headline guy.  But that’s important nonetheless.

What For?

“A package headlined by young pitching.”  This has been the stated goal all along – that the Braves should – and must – receive good young pitching in any deal.  This was the case regardless of whether the thinking is “near major-league-ready” or further away.

What Team?

So armed with those parameters, let’s go investigate the third part – which is the “What team” bit.  This is the one place I have to squirm on this rumor – “an AL West club”.  That… is puzzling because it’s very specific until getting to the end.  Hopefully, we will hear more shortly, but here’s a quick run-through of the options:

TEXAS – was said to be too close on funds, but they still have real needs, having lost Alex Rios and still with banged up players – including outfielders.  Right now, they don’t look competitive, so this would surprise me. UPDATE: Reporters have ruled them out.

HOUSTON – Lots of prospects available thanks to the fact that they have been drafting “high” over the past few years.  But completely unclear why the Astros – still 1-3 years away from being really competitive – would go after a 1-year Justin Upton.  UPDATE: Buster Olney has ruled out the Astros.

LA ANGELS – Maybe.  But where to put him?  Replace Josh Hamilton?  Replace Kole Calhoun?  More likely the latter, but this would hardly be a slam dunk unless the Angels were trying to clear a pitcher so that they could get Dan Haren back from the Marlins… and restore themselves as threats out West instead of ceding the season to Seattle.

ATHLETICS – Maybe.  Certainly, if any team needs offense out west, it’s Oakland.  They’ve made a bunch of seemingly random moves, sending away almost all of their All-Stars and offensive production.  But what could they offer in return for a 1-year buy-in on Upton?  Apparently quite a bit.  Right now I would rank the A’s highest on this list.  UPDATE:  But Ken Rosenthal has ruled out the A’s… interesting…

MARINERS – Stop me if you’ve heard…. okay, you have.  Their outfield consists of Dustin Ackley, Austin Jackson, and Justin Ruggiano.  Adding Justin to everything else they’ve done would make them world-beaters, but also begs the question about why they got Ruggiano this week.

So in short:  I have questions about all five of these teams.  But perhaps we’ll know soon, because….

…and…

So please stay tuned.