Orioles trade rumors: Discussing Justin Upton trade with Padres

Baltimore may be ready to bring in a bat. The Orioles have at least discussed with the Padres a deal that would involve outfielder Justin Upton, according to Jayson Stark of ESPN.

Sources: #Padres & #Orioles have discussed deal to send Justin Upton to Bal. Possibly could expand it to include SD starters (Ross/Cashner)

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 27, 2015

As Stark mentioned, the Orioles could expand the deal to also acquire one of the Padres pitchers that has been made available. Baltimore has gotten a line of .245/.308/.398 with a .308 wOBA from the left field position that has been made up of Travis Snider, David Lough, Nolan Reimold, Steve Pearce and Chris Parmelee.

Snider has gotten most of the time with 126 at-bats, and hit .249 with a .319 on-base percentage. If the Orioles were to bring in Upton, it would be somewhat of an upgrade. In 383 plate appearances this season, Upton has hit .251 with a .330 on-base percentage to go with a .330 wOBA.

Upton is a free agent at the end of the season, and has drawn interest from a number of teams including the Pirates and Mets.

If the talks were to expand to include Ross or Cashner, they would be welcome additions to the Orioles rotation. Baltimore's pitching staff, that has seen seven starters this season, has combined to post a 4.21 ERA and a 4.30 FIP in 378 innings this season. Both Ross and Cashner have ERA's and FIP's lower than those numbers, although their respective BABIP's are higher then the Orioles staff number of .298.