Cleveland Indians trade rumors: Tribe flirting with Melvin Upton Jr. of the Padres

According to Buster Olney, the Cleveland Indians spoke with the San Diego Padres about a potential trade for Melvin Upton Jr.

Cleveland has been involved in conversations in recent weeks with San Diego about Melvin Upton, Jr., but seems nothing has been close.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 23, 2016

I'm not shocked to hear that the deal hasn't approached a potential match. My guess is that the Indians reached out to hear what the Padres would want in return in order to gauge the plausibility of Rajai-to-left-Ramirez-to-third. The Padres are likely approaching a major rebuild and would want promising prospects in return.

Upton played for the Tampa Bay Rays from 2004 - 2012, posting 20.4 bWAR. After a disastrous two-year stint in Atlanta (-2.1 bWAR), Upton returned to his usual production in San Diego: good enough to start, but never really considered an All-Star. It's difficult to be too disappointed in a player with a career line of .245/.323/.404 at a premium defensive position, but Upton went 2nd overall in the "Moneyball" draft.

Other teams showed interested in Upton this week. Our friends at Camden Chat reported that Baltimore Orioles SP Ubaldo Jimenez might be swapped straight-up for Upton. Now, the teams may be approaching a mini-mega deal.

Upton deal with #Orioles would be Upton-for-Ubaldo with #Padres also seeking prospect. SD wants two prospects for Cashner, sources say.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 23, 2016

Señor Bowtie also noted that the Blue Jays inquired and were rebuffed. Upton is signed through 2017 and scheduled to make $16.45 million next year.