The Diamondbacks have made it very clear that they are interested in trading their star outfielder Justin Upton this winter, if the price is right. With that being said I believe that the Mets will be heavily involved in his sweepstakes, considering that he could be a major building block as the club rebuild their entire outfield. Upton is 25 years old, and is under a team friendly deal, so it definitely makes sense to pursue him.
I would imagine that several top notch prospects, or major league ready players, would be required in a package to pry Upton out of Arizona. Now that Lucas Duda's trade value has got down the toilet (due to the wrist surgery that was announced earlier today), the Mets will have to find other trade chips to use. Let's just think about what the Diamondbacks would want in such a trade. They have several young arms that will crack the rotation in 2013, so pitching, for the most part, will not be their priority. I would imagine that they will looking for a second baseman (Kelly Johnson is likely to leave via free agency), a shortstop (Stephen Drew is a free agent), and a third baseman (uncertainty with Ryan Wheeler.) They have a nice amount of outfield depth, so perhaps Duda would not appeal to them even if he was healthy. I can see a potential trade like this making sense:
Mets get:
RF Justin Upton
Cash considerations ($2-3 million)
Diamondbacks get:
SP Jon Niese
SS/3B Wilmer Flores
3B Zack Lutz
2B Daniel Murphy
SP Cory Mazzoni
Obviously losing some of those players would be risky, considering that it would jeopardize a part of the club's future. But, let's think for a second here. The Mets would be getting Justin Upton, whose talent hasn't really been specified in this article. The guy is a two time All-Star, who is a threat to go deep and on the base-paths. He has a great throwing arm, and would probably thrive in New York. If Sandy Alderson can acquire him, it would tell us fans that he is not willing to rebuild for 5-6 years, rather retool and go get em in 2014 (when Bay and Santana's contracts are off the books.)
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