Five NL trades that must happen
Justin Upton to the Pirates, Cole Hamels to the Dodgers and other deals
Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline is a scant two weeks away, so it's rapidly becoming time for teams to start making some final decisions on the near-future comings and goings.
Baseball's general managers continue to brazenly refuse to space the big trades out conveniently for us pundits, instead cramming all the moves into a one- or two-day period. So now's a good time for a little fantasy role play -- for baseball, of course, so put away your 20-sided dice and your NC-17 warnings.
Below are five trades that teams should strongly consider. I'm not reporting rumors here, but rather some win-win trades with an attempt to be fair to both sides. In this case, we're focusing on scenarios in which the NL club is the "buyer" and making a move to win this year. On Wednesday, we'll look at AL buyers.
Trade No. 1: Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton to Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Starling Marte, pitcher Luis Heredia and shortstop Alen Hanson.
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Dan Szymborski
ESPN Insider- Creator of ZiPS projection system
- Founder of Baseball Think Factory
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