Yankees Trade Rumors: Justin Upton Deal Is Only Blockbuster Worth Making
July 23, 2012 · Zachary D. Rymer · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The New York Yankees were swept in a four-game series against the A’s out in Oakland this past weekend. In the process, their once-seemingly-insurmountable lead in the AL East shrunk to just six games.
Quick, everybody panic.
Now!
If you bothered to panic for even five seconds, you can stop now. That’ll do.
Let’s all be clear on one thing here: the Bombers’ sweep at the hands of the A’s is not a sign of dark things to come. What happened was that the Yankees ran into a buzz saw. Plain and simple. It happens.
And, let’s face it. The Yankees hadn’t been swept in a four-game series since 2003. It was bound to happen again at some point.
So, if you’re busy writing an angry letter to Brian Cashman right now demanding that he make some sort of big splash at the trade deadline, knock it off. You’re wasting your time.
Cashman has made it clear in recent weeks that he’s not looking to do anything drastic at the trade deadline. In fact, he recently told The Star-Ledger that he’s “very skeptical” about making improvements via trades at the deadline. The prices for key trade targets are high, and he doesn’t have much incentive to pay these prices, seeing as how his club already has the top record in the American League.
Cashman has every reason to stand pat at the deadline. The club’s embarrassment at the hands of the A’s doesn’t really change anything.
Still…
Maybe Cashman is feeling the need to make a blockbuster trade right about now. Maybe he feels that doing so would give his club a much-needed kick in the pants.
If so, there’s only one blockbuster deal that Cashman should pursue if he does feel the urge to give the baseball world a shock.
That, of course, would be a deal for Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Justin Upton.
The word around the campfire is that Cashman has kicked the tires on Upton. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com has reported that the Yankees are “in on everybody” now that Brett Gardner has probably been lost for the year, and their list of targets includes Upton.
Heyman noted in his report that it’s highly unlikely that the Yankees will deal for Upton at any point in the next week or so. To make matters even more complicated, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com have reported that the Yankees are one of four teams on Upton’s no-trade list. It would be up to him to approve a deal to the Bombers.
There’s also the fact that Upton is having a down season, as he’s hitting just .274/.358/.411 a year after hitting .289/.369/.529. The difference between the two slugging percentages is a big concern, and it’s a key reason why the Diamondbacks can’t get as much in a trade for Upton now as they would like to.
And so on, and so on. Once you take all the different dynamics into consideration, it’s pretty clear that the odds of the Yankees making a move for Upton before the deadline are slim. For that matter, the odds of any team making a deal for him are slim. He’s probably going to end up staying in Arizona for the rest of the season.
Nevertheless, Joel Sherman of the New York Post brought up a lot of good points in his Sunday column. He notes that the Yankees could use Upton in left field right now in place of Gardner, and that he would be an ideal candidate to take over for Nick Swisher in right field if (OK fine, when) he leaves as a free agent this offseason.
To boot, Upton is already a star at the age of 24, and there’s plenty of reasons to think his best days are still ahead of him. Better yet, he’s signed through 2015 at reasonable prices—a reality that should appeal to a Yankees club that would like nothing more than to lower its payroll under the $189 million mark.
Naturally, there are concerns. Specifically, why on earth is Upton on the block in the first place? Why would the Diamondbacks even consider dealing him?
That’s something only they know, though there have been various whispers that there’s a rift between Upton and the powers that be in Arizona. There’s also the sense that the Diamondbacks may be underwhelmed with what they’ve gotten from Upton, who they selected No. 1 overall back in 2005.
If I’m the Yankees, I take all this into consideration and look on the bright side. In addition to being an extremely gifted young player, Upton is also a player who is already in need of a change of scenery. The potential reward of acquiring Upton could be huge.
As strange as this sounds, one thing that could help Upton is the fact that there would be less pressure on him in New York than there is in Arizona. Everyone is looking for him to be a superstar and an MVP-caliber player in Arizona. In New York, Upton would share the spotlight with the likes of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano.
He wouldn’t have to be the guy with the Yankees. He’d merely have be a guy. Another member of the supporting cast.
At least in the short-term, anyway. Upton would slide into an everyday role as the Yankees’ left fielder and could be used as a No. 5 hitter behind Cano. His primary job would be to protect Cano so he can drive in runs.
For what it’s worth, the No. 5 spot has agreed with Upton this year. Per Baseball-Reference.com, Upton has a 1.227 OPS in six games batting out of the No. 5 spot, as opposed to a .742 OPS when batting third.
Plugging Upton into left field would require the Yankees to break up the dynamic platoon duo of Andruw Jones and Raul Ibanez, but that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Joe Girardi would be able to keep them fresh, and he basically has no way of doing that right now seeing as how he requires at least one of them in his lineup every day.
After this season, Upton could supplant Swisher in right field, giving the Yankees an excellent outfield trio of Gardner in left, Curtis Granderson in center and Upton in right. If the Yankees sign Granderson to an extension, perhaps with the money that will be freed up when Derek Jeter’s contract runs out after the 2013 season, that’s a trio the Yankees could keep intact for years to come.
If all goes well, Upton will blossom into a superstar when he reaches his late 20s, and would thus take his place as the next great Yankees superstar.
Sounds good, right?
Of course it does. The only question is what the Yankees would have to give up in order to get Upton.
They’d have to give up a lot. Sherman theorized that it would take a package of Mason Williams, Eduardo Nunez and David Phelps in order to get Upton, but he’s probably selling Upton way short with a package like that.
Williams isn’t a bad player to base a package around, but the Yankees would have to part with at least one other top prospect besides him. My guess is that it would be Dante Bichette Jr., who has the potential to be a corner infielder with the ability to hit .300 with ample power.
The only way Cashman is doing a deal like that right now is if he has concrete faith that Upton didn’t peak as a player in 2011. He’s only pulling the trigger on an Upton deal if he thinks he will indeed be getting a cornerstone superstar-type player.
I’ll be shocked if Cashman allows himself to dream like this at any point in the next week or so. He’s just not the type.
What I do know, however, is that nobody will be in a position to complain if Cashman does swing a deal for Upton.
If there’s one trade chip in baseball worth gambling on, it’s Upton.
UPDATE: Monday, July 23 at 6:35 p.m. ET
Welp, it looks like this idea is off the table. This would be thanks to the Yankees’ trade for Ichiro, which was first reported by Jack Curry of the YES Network:
The Yankees have acquired Ichiro Suzuki for RHPs DJ Mitchell and Danny Fahrquar, a source said. Yanks also get undisclosed cash in deal.
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) July 23, 2012
Instead of a young superstar, Cashman obtained an over-the-hill Ichiro for peanuts.
That works. I guess.
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