Next Atlanta Braves trade, Justin Upton for Taijuan Walker?

After the Atlanta Braves shock us all with the recent blockbuster…

…sending Jason Heyward and Jordan Walden to the St. Louis Cardinals for Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins, the trade rumors still swirl among the rest of the Braves outfield.  Buster Olney has the latest speculative piece via twitter:

With ATL trading Heyward, makes sense for them to deal Justin Upton now. Seattle–no longer on his no-trade list–a good fit. (For Walker?)

The Match: Atlanta Braves Justin Upton for Seattle Mariners Taijuan Walker

It makes sense on both sides.  Taijuan Walker may have fallen out of favor in the Mariners’ organization with his less than stellar 2014.  Adding to that, the Mariners are stacked with young pitching (and hitting) making Walker expendable.  On the opposite hand, the Mariners are in need of a steady power presence in their lineup to compliment Robinson Cano, and Justin Upton fits that bill quite nicely.

John Sickels of minorleagueball.com on Taijuan Walker

Taijuan Walker has been scouted by every scout on the planet, but my favorite reports come from John Sickels who had this to say about Walker:

"“Walker is a 6-4, 230 pound right-hander born August 13, 1992. As you can imagine given his amateur background, he’s an excellent all-around athlete who took well to mound work once he moved there full-time. His fastball has been clocked as high as 98 MPH and fits comfortably in the 93-95 range most of the time. Unlike many young power pitchers, he commands the fastball well and hits his locations, not relying on just pure velocity to blow people away.The key for Walker has been steady development of his secondary pitches. He has a slow curveball, a harder slider, and a traditional change-up to mix with the heat. The curveball was erratic early in his career but has improved greatly over the last 18 months. His change-up remains his weakest offering but has improved. At his best, when all four pitches are working, Walker can hit any velocity slot between 70 and 98 MPH.Walker’s makeup is considered a positive; he’s bright, confident, works hard, and is considered to be mature for his age. Command of his secondary pitches is still inconsistent at times but Triple-A hitters no longer exposed this. What he needs to learn he can only learn against major league hitters at this point.”Walker has everything needed to be a top-flight starter. We just need to see if he can stay healthy."

Health has been an issue for Walker as the words “shoulder impingement” have been thrown out there. Adding onto that, Walker was scratched from his Arizona Fall League in mid-October which made many Mariner gurus nervous that his shoulder ailments had popped up again.  In actuality, Walker just decided it was time to rest and made a personal decision to end his Fall League play.

What would a Justin Upton/Taijuan Walker trade look like?

Here’s where it gets tricky.  Normally, one would think that Taijuan Walker for Justin Upton, straight up, would never happen.  Taijuan Walker was a Top-10 elite prospect prior to 2014 season and it would be simply foolish to trade him for 1 year of Justin Upton, right?  Seems legit, however, I point to the shoulder ailments of Taijuan’s, the Mariners desperation for a power bat, the pressure to compete with their young core, and the surplus of Major League ready starting pitching as scenarios that might swing the scales to equality.

There are other pieces on the Seattle Mariners that would be great buy-lows for the Braves such as Brad Miller and Michael Saunders, both who could compliment the Braves needs, but I’m unsure that there’s a real match there. The Braves could entice the Mariners with someone like Joey Terdoslavich, but the real player the Mariners would covet, alongside Justin Upton, would be Evan Gattis.  A Justin Upton/Evan Gattis package would bring back a seriously legit package for the Braves, but would likely sacrifice the 2015 season.

Whatever happens, the offseason will continue to be interesting.