UPDATE 3:51 PM: Jon Heyman is hearing that there’s nothing serious with Justin Upton yet. He also says the Pirates are “probably not a fit” and that they won’t include Cole or Taillon.
UPDATE 1:16 PM: Jon Morosi reports that the Pirates have a scout in Chicago watching Upton this weekend.
UPDATE 12:45 PM: Stark said on Baseball Tonight that the Pirates could get Upton without losing Gerrit Cole or Jameson Taillon. He also said they were including Starling Marte in the discussions. Keeping Cole and Taillon out of the deal definitely changes the outlook, although it all depends on what the other pieces are beyond Marte.
12:42 PM: We’ve heard a lot of rumors about the Pittsburgh Pirates and Justin Upton. The latest rumors said that the Pirates had expressed interest, but that interest didn’t sound like anything more than due diligence. There have also been rumors that the Pirates don’t match up well for Upton.
Jayson Stark of ESPN says that the Pirates are emerging as serious bidders for Upton. The price for Upton would be high, so if the reports are correct Pirates are emerging as serious bidders, it would mean they’re interested in giving up some big trade pieces. I’d imagine “serious bidders” would include discussions about one or two of the team’s top prospects.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Tim, I was wondering what the implications of a draft pick traded (the one we get in the lottery this week) would have on a trade like this. Would Marte, Lincoln and a comp. first round be enough to seal the deal?
With that 3:51 update we’re back to where we were before Stark sent his tweet. Which is: we’re not a good fit. ESPN strikes again!
They want a SS? How about Marte plus Barmes and a couple of unknown, minor league pitchers?
Nick Cafardo’s column in the Boston Globe today says Kevin Towers wants “a package that includes a third baseman and/or shortstop and something else.” If that’s accurate, the Pirates don’t seem like a good fit unless Alvarez is part of the talks and I really doubt that.
It would be great if we could substitute Tabata for Marte in this deal.
i do not understand the concept of trading upton for marte…upton has been average this year with 7 HR OPS of .744 and a War of 1.0..cant marte do that as a rookie!?!??!?!?!?
But Upton will do it for 10-14 million per year instead of the league minimum 🙂
maybe not….Justin was FOURTH in MVP votes last year.
last year..this year he has a shoulder injury and has not performed and is getting kicked out of arizona something is up
Keeping Cole and Taillon definitely sits better with me, and I can accept losing Marte if Upton already is what we can expect Marte to be. It almost sounds like Arizona is getting anxious to move Upton.