With the rumors and speculation surrounding the Mets' Carlos Beltran building by the hour, the San Francisco Giants are looking towards other options that could bolster their outfield as well as their offense.
The Rays B.J. Upton has emerged as another likely candidate that the Black and Orange will look to acquire according the Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com. San Francisco will join the Indians, Rangers, Braves and Phillies as possible suitors to Tampa Bay's former All-Star outfielder, who is currently averaging .229/.310/.395 for the contenders in the AL East And even though his numbers a down this season Upton would still be a great addition to the Giants, bringing his speed, defense, and AL East success to the city by the Bay, and a change of scenery from the dreary Trop down in south Florida would likely be a welcome sight to the 26 year old.
If Upton was to join the Giants, he'd likely usurp Andres Torres as the everyday center fielder, possibly moving him to left field to platoon with Cody Ross. Where that leaves Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell's future is yet to be seen, but likely would limit their playing time almost to nothing as Nate Schierholtz has shown without question to be an everyday player.
Though Beltran is much better offensively that Upton, Beltran's desire to play for the NL has somewhat limited his trade value (not much mind you). Upton is better defensively and will be under a team's control through 2012, possibly making the Giants more comfortable with letting go a top-level prospect for him instead of the likely 'rental' situation with Beltran.