Red Sox expected to pursue trade for Justin Upton ... or not

Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald brings the knowledge:

The Arizona Diamondbacks are once again actively shopping outfielder Justin Upton, and despite the appearance of the Red Sox on Upton’s no-trade list, that would not prohibit a trade of the 25-year-old to Boston, according to a major-league source. Players frequently insert names of teams they are willing to play for, as in this case between Upton and the Red Sox, on their no-trade list for negotiating purposes in the event of a trade. The Dodgers were on Carl Crawford’s no-trade in August.

The bigger problem for the Red Sox is that they don’t have very many attractive trade chips and they’ll be battling for Upton this winter with teams -- like the Rangers -- that do. But let’s not rule out any club quite yet.

Upton grew up in Virginia and is known to have interest in returning full-time to the East Coast.

He batted .280/.355/.430 with 17 home runs, 18 stolen bases and 67 RBI in 150 games this past season.
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UPDATE, 9:01 PM: Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic was told by Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers that the Red Sox are not on Upton’s no-trade list. So that hurdle doesn’t need to be cleared.

UPDATE, 10:45 PM: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale says the Red Sox are already out.