Justin Upton wants to stay in San Diego this season but team will have to start winning

I haven't heard any specific rumors but it's hard to imagine the Padres keeping their lone All-Star Justin Upton past the trade deadline.  He'll be a free agent at the end of the year and if the Padres trade him now to a contending team they may get some value that could improve the team sometime in the future.  On the flip side they'd be losing Justin Upton for the second half of the season, which would be bad.

Upton says he'd like to finish the season in San Diego.  Maybe that's the way he really feels and maybe not but I'd expect most players to say something similar about their current team.

Justin Upton enjoying time with San Diego Padres, hoping he won't be traded

"At this point, I haven't given up on the team,'' Upton said this week in Cincinnati, where he was a member of the National League All-Star team. "I really like the guys, and I like the clubhouse. We still have some time to change the minds of the front office. In a perfect world, we play well over the next two or three weeks and A.J. pumps the brakes on dismantling the team.''

Personally I don't see how even playing above their heads for the next few weeks will change anything.  It won't suddenly put them into playoff contention unless they practically sweep their opponents.  We all knew coming into the season that if things didn't work out that there would be a strong likelihood that the team would be dismantled.

"It's been frustrating at times, but guys haven't rolled over,'' Upton said. "Talentwise, I think we're still capable of being in the hunt at some point. But we've got to play better. That's just being realistic. We've shown flashes, but we haven't played as well as we can.''

I agree, there's still a lot of untapped talent on this team.  You'd like to think at some point they'd have to get start firing on all cylinders and get into some sort of rhythm.