Justin Upton Rumors: Pirates Currently Unwilling To Part With Jameson Taillon Or Starling Marte, According To Report

This is the strangest time of the year to write about the news surrounding the Pirates. On one hand, a lot of what you read is really tantalizing; on the other, it's likely that about three-quarters of it has no basis in reality whatsoever. With that said, here's your Justin Upton news for the day, from Jon Paul Morosi.

Huntington thus far has refused to part with minor league outfielder Starling Marte or right-hander Jameson Taillon. At least one — and maybe both — would represent a fair price for a player of Upton’s ability (fourth in the NL MVP vote last year) and cost certainty (three years at $38.5 million, starting in 2013).

This is strange. I assume Gerrit Cole would also be off the table. I'm pretty sure Huntington knows it would be very difficult to get Upton without giving up any of those three players, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Anyway, Morosi's article is a diatribe about how, in part because of the injury to Joey Votto and whatever's going on with Zack Greinke, the Pirates "owe it to their fans" to make a big push to win. I'm not a big fan of arguments like that, even though I do hope the Pirates do something. I do agree with him that the Pirates should be willing to part with Taillon and/or Marte to get Upton, however.