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It's officially time to put an end to Justin Upton trade talk. For now, at least.
After several weeks of speculation and rumors surrounding the Arizona Diamondbacks' star right fielder, team president Derrick Hall said Tuesday that there's "close to a 100 percent chance nothing happens'' with Upton between now and the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
"I would be completely shocked if anything were to happen in-season," Hall told ESPN.com. "You have a better chance of moving a star-caliber player like Justin in the offseason, when teams know exactly where they finished and where they're heading, and they can get more creative.
"We'll field all proposals and conversations. You never know. But I would be surprised if anything happens in the offseason, either."
Upton, 24, has been the subject of an Internet frenzy since reports surfaced before the All-Star break that the Diamondbacks were willing to entertain trade offers for him.
The Toronto Blue Jays, Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers are among a slew of teams that have been mentioned as potential landing spots for Upton, who reportedly has a clause in his contract that allows him to block trades to the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.
Arizona officials have maintained from the outset that they're not shopping Upton. Hall and general manager Kevin Towers have said they're merely doing their due diligence by listening to trade offers.
"We're in no hurry to move this guy -- nor do we think we need to," Hall said. "Everybody in this organization is open for discussion and conversation, including Justin Upton. If people call, we're going to listen. We've had a lot of people call, and we've said, 'No, thank you' to all of them. That hasn't changed."
Upton, a two-time All-Star, hit 31 home runs, recorded an .898 OPS and finished fourth in the National League MVP voting last season. But he got off to a slow start this year, prompting Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick to refer to him in early June as an "enigma."
Upton is batting .276 with just eight homers in 323 at-bats, but he's batting .417 (10-for-24) in his past seven games. The Diamondbacks have won four straight and moved within six games of the first-place San Francisco Giants in the NL West. At 48-48, they're only 4½ games out in the NL wild-card race.
Upton, the first overall pick in the 2005 first-year player draft, signed a six-year, $51.25 million contract extension with Arizona in 2010. He's scheduled to make a total of $38.5 million in the next three seasons.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/81...-year-deadline
After several weeks of speculation and rumors surrounding the Arizona Diamondbacks' star right fielder, team president Derrick Hall said Tuesday that there's "close to a 100 percent chance nothing happens'' with Upton between now and the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
"I would be completely shocked if anything were to happen in-season," Hall told ESPN.com. "You have a better chance of moving a star-caliber player like Justin in the offseason, when teams know exactly where they finished and where they're heading, and they can get more creative.
"We'll field all proposals and conversations. You never know. But I would be surprised if anything happens in the offseason, either."
Upton, 24, has been the subject of an Internet frenzy since reports surfaced before the All-Star break that the Diamondbacks were willing to entertain trade offers for him.
The Toronto Blue Jays, Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers are among a slew of teams that have been mentioned as potential landing spots for Upton, who reportedly has a clause in his contract that allows him to block trades to the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.
Arizona officials have maintained from the outset that they're not shopping Upton. Hall and general manager Kevin Towers have said they're merely doing their due diligence by listening to trade offers.
"We're in no hurry to move this guy -- nor do we think we need to," Hall said. "Everybody in this organization is open for discussion and conversation, including Justin Upton. If people call, we're going to listen. We've had a lot of people call, and we've said, 'No, thank you' to all of them. That hasn't changed."
Upton, a two-time All-Star, hit 31 home runs, recorded an .898 OPS and finished fourth in the National League MVP voting last season. But he got off to a slow start this year, prompting Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick to refer to him in early June as an "enigma."
Upton is batting .276 with just eight homers in 323 at-bats, but he's batting .417 (10-for-24) in his past seven games. The Diamondbacks have won four straight and moved within six games of the first-place San Francisco Giants in the NL West. At 48-48, they're only 4½ games out in the NL wild-card race.
Upton, the first overall pick in the 2005 first-year player draft, signed a six-year, $51.25 million contract extension with Arizona in 2010. He's scheduled to make a total of $38.5 million in the next three seasons.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/81...-year-deadline