Things continue to be very quiet concerning B.J. Upton, and it’s beginning to look more and more likely that the Tampa Bay Rays end up not trading him this year. Hunter Pence is off the market now, though, so it’s possible that teams will start inquiring on Upton again.
This is more speculation than rumor, but Jon Heyman had something to say about Upton this morning:
#braves should go for the gusto & grab b.j. upton, who could be great. scout: "he’ll take off when once leaves TB.’’
Also, Ken Rosenthal is claiming the Braves are “almost certain” to end up with an outfielder before the deadline. The trick is, will it B.J. Upton or one of the other outfielders on the market? According to Rosenthal, the Braves are interested in a wide range of names: B.J. Upton, Michael Bourn, Ryan Ludwick, Carlos Quentin, and Josh Willingham.
Upton will probably be the most expensive to acquire of any of these players, but he’s also probably the best overall player (and teams seem to believe he still has upside). It’ll be interesting to see how much the Braves are willing to pay to upgrade, considering they already have the NL Wild Card spot all but locked up.
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