ORLANDO, Fla. — New Arizona GM Kevin Towers makes it his policy to determine the interest level of all of his players and so he is sizing up what he could get for his best youngster — Justin Upton.
A small canvassing of executives said they viewed the early favorites to land Upton as the Marlins and Rays, though the Yankees and Red Sox were cited as teams to watch.
“He would be a tough guy to move,” Towers said of Upton, who is 23 and hit 17 homers and stole 18 bases last year. “But you always seek out the information on what teams will do because you never know if, to get one player, a team will grossly overpay.”
Arizona badly wants to rebuild its bullpen, add to its rotation and address first base. The Marlins were described by one official with knowledge of the Diamondbacks’ plans as having the most interest in Upton for a while. Florida is among the organizations that most favors scouting and tools, and one AL personnel man described Upton as “a tool shed.”
With a new ballpark due to open in 2012, the Marlins could in theory try to build around two of the most interesting young outfielders in the game, Upton and their own Mike Stanton. One executive even suggested a package of outfield prospect Logan Morrison and righty Ricky Nolasco, who has won at least 13 games three straight seasons, would probably get a deal done.
Upton was described by officials as possessing qualities that Tampa loves: His best years are in theory ahead of him and he is signed to a reasonable contract (five years at $49.5 million left). The Rays are going to lose free agent outfielder Carl Crawford. And the fringe benefit is Tampa would be willing to see if having his hard-charging younger brother would motivate the enigmatic B.J. Upton to play harder and better.
The Yankees are intriguing because Towers worked for them last year and knows their talent well and likes certain players such as Jesus Montero, Manuel Banuelos, Hector Noesi and Slade Heathcott. But for the Yanks to get involved for Justin Upton, they would probably have to have struck out with Cliff Lee and be thinking of using a current outfielder as part of a trade for a starter.
The Red Sox are intriguing because they have been focused on free-agent outfielders Crawford and, particularly, Jayson Werth. But what if they, say, did something like traded Clay Buchholz for Upton and then signed Lee. The question would be would they be better off with Werth and Buchholz or Upton and Lee, especially since they would devastate the Yankees by taking Lee away.
However, a person familiar with Boston’s thinking said the Red Sox are worried about Upton’s left shoulder after labrum surgery, and also what it would mean to have so much long-term money tied up in three older starters: Lee, Josh Beckett and John Lackey.
* The Braves were viewed as players for Upton because they craved righty power. But instead they got what GM Frank Wren described as “the No.1 guy on our board,” Dan Uggla, yesterday in a trade from Florida for Omar Infante and Mike Dunn (one of the three pieces Atlanta had received from the Yanks for Javier Vazquez).
Florida signed catcher John Buck to a three-year, $18 million contract. Boston was thought to be in the mix, but viewed Buck more as a backup and not someone to go three years with.
St. Louis had prioritized a middle infielder and a starting pitcher, and got the pitcher by retaining Jake Westbrook on a two-year, $17.5 million contract.
* Major league officials walked away from a day of meetings with GMs feeling there was not a consensus on how to add a second wild card in each league, making it highly unlikely anything will be done for the 2011 season. The majority wanted the second wild card, but the infighting was whether the two wild-card teams should play a one-game playoff or a best-of-three to move into the Division Series.
Those who wanted one game felt it boosted drama without adding too many extra days to the playoff schedule. Those who favored a best-of-three were concerned that, for example, a wild card that won 95 games could lose one game to a wild card that won 85 games and be eliminated for simply having one bad day, which would be unfair with that kind of victory disparity.
When it came to instant replay, there was sentiment to add fair-foul line calls to what can be challenged. But, again, that now also seems more likely to — as with the extra wild card — be tabled to part of overall negotiations with the players as part of a new collective bargaining agreement, since the current one runs out after the 2011 campaign.
The GMs were more unified in authorizing ownership to make a hard slotting system for the draft and a worldwide draft firm issues they want as part of the new CBA.