Justin Upton Almost Traded to American League Team

Justin Upton was almost traded twice before coming to the Braves

The Arizona Diamondbacks apparently tried to trade Justin Upton for two and a half years, including a deal with the Mariners that Upton vetoed.  Another deal involving Upton to an American League team was close, but fell through.

The deal with the Mariners reportedly included minor league shortstop Nick Franklin, pitching prospect Taijuan Walker, and relievers Charlie Furbush and Stephen Pryor.

“It happened to be that we felt, for the first time in two-and-a-half years, the best deal was Seattle,” Towers said.

According to Towers, the Mariners deal wasn’t the first one the Diamondbacks almost made that included Upton.

“Of course he nixed that,” D-backs GM Kevin Towers told Arizona Sports 620′s Burns and Gambo of the Mariners trade.  Then I would say even before that we came very close with a three-way deal with Texas and Tampa in the wintertime that didn’t end up happening, but it came close.”

Looking at the trade from the Braves perspective, they weren’t out front in the Upton deal buying high.  They sat back and waited, and according to many experts, got Upton at their price.  Considering Upton almost went two other places before coming to the Braves, there was a heavy dose of luck involved in acquiring the talented outfielder, too.