Olney: D-backs are shopping Justin Upton

This isn’t the first time we’ve been inundated with Justin
Upton trade rumors.

Following the 2010 season, new Diamondbacks general
manager Kevin Towers listened to offers from other teams,
yet nobody could put together the right package for Upton.

With the D-backs’ right fielder mired in a mediocre
season, the rumors have started again. From
what has been reported this week, Towers is once again
listening to
offers from other big
league teams.

But ESPN baseball insider Buster Olney believes there’s
more than listening going on, as he stated Thursday as a
guest host of Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio.

“The Diamondbacks are looking to move him,” Olney said.
“They have a different take on it. It reminds me a lot of
Ubaldo Jimenez last July where there was a feeling that
they were looking to move the player for one reason or
another.”

Jimenez, who finished third in the 2010 National
League Cy
Young balloting while with the Colorado Rockies, was dealt
to the Cleveland Indians at the trade deadline last season
in a move that surprised many.

So what could be the reason the Diamondbacks are looking
to deal a two-time All-Star who’s only 24? Olney didn’t
specifically clear that up, but did offer what he thinks
might have been the final determination in the minds of
Diamondbacks’ brass.

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