Upton a Brave
Free-agent outfielder B.J. Upton has agreed to a five-year deal worth about $75 million with the Atlanta Braves, pending a physical, a baseball source told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick on Wednesday.
'I look in front of me, no ball. I look behind me, no ball. I look in my glove and see the ball. I say to myself, Rufino, you one lucky guy!'
So can we infer that the Uggla contract is on the way out via some sort of trade?
That would be an extremely optimistic view of things.
I want to go on record as approving of this signing.
Bowman calls it the Braves’ most significant since Maddux. I would’ve said Jordan (which this one reminds me of, very much) but that’s a quibble.
Good defender, good basestealer, has some pop in his bat. Other than that, you’ve got a lot of negatives. He’s very streaky, hasn’t hit above .250 in four years, doesn’t draw a lot of walks, and is guaranteed to have over 150 Ks. I suppose Wren wanted a RHB to be able to break up the lefthandedness in the middle of the order. But I don’t see Upton as a good middle of the order batter. I hope I’m wrong.
I remember wanting us to sign Carl Crawford, which would’ve been a disaster. I’ve been cool to this one so maybe it will work out right. I give FW credit for making a move. We’ll have a shitload of strikeouts at bat this season. That’s really rich, the notion of getting rid of Uggla. He’s ours until the terms run out.
Strikeouts yes, but probably no more than in 2012 (depending on who plays LF/3B)…Bourn certainly had more than his share. We basically lost some on base/batting average ability and a little speed in favor of power in this deal.
This is a hell of a lot of money to spend on such a flawed player.
Not really, at least by current MLB standards.
I thought it might take $17M/year and 6 years to get him, so I guess he’s a bargain from that perspective.