Email a copy of 'Melvin Upton Jr. Won't Make Blue Jays' to a friend
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By Connor Byrne | at
Email a copy of 'Melvin Upton Jr. Won't Make Blue Jays' to a friend
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ericl97
WHOA
mrkinsm
Over the past 4 years he’s hit .218 – .288 – .356
sufferforsnakes
……….and ___________?
Modified_6
I’m guessing that’s a slash line…. not a list of batting averages.
sufferforsnakes
Dang, he’s even worse than I thought. No wonder my mom was happy when the Braves got rid of him.
lowtalker1
He was good on the padres tsk tsk
oriolesravenstimberwolves04
Ok spring training isn’t everything. This guy isn’t Terrible all of sudden.guys can have a bad spring training. Last spring Hyoon Soo Kim went hitless for 23 at bats and then hit above 300 in the majors
bluejays92
I’m still butthurt that they ever even traded for him to begin with. I hope the O’s or Rays sign him so that they’ll be a bit weaker when the Jays play them.
Strikeout. Repeat.
EonADS
He started with the rays and in his later years with the club they HATED him because of how lazy he was. Toxic in the clubhouse too. They probably wouldn’t take him back if the Jays paid them to.
johnsilver
Maddon got a fair work ethic out of him early on, but his career has been on a slide since his 1st 3 seasons and he always struck out too much.
Many Rays players drafted had bad attitudes. Upton was just another. Several times he non chalanted after balls that got by him while in Tampa early in his career. Maddon would bench him for a game, yet he’d do it again.. Hot dog it to 1st base on a grounder, getting 3-4 steps toward 1st before peeling off towards the dugout.
Ohh how many here were yacking that he was some future HOF player when he hit FA…BAH
thegreatcerealfamine
Wow now somebody speaks of a player being toxic in the clubhouse as opposed to great. The same question is how would you know?
lowtalker1
Won’t get much
Lol
lowtalker1
If anything
dugdog83
Just a puffy shirt
agentx
Braves? Sorry, I couldn’t resist…
Knox Christopher
Not sure this is accurate but didn’t he play a little 2nd base for the braves in his time?
realgone2
nope
southi
Knox Christopher you’ve got the wrong team. Melvin Upton, Jr. (when he was known as B.J.) played some 2b, as well as SS and 3b for Tampa before he ever made the full time transition to the OF. I’d imagine however that infield positions are no longer truly feasible options for him.
vinscully16
… good decision to move on from Upton.
buzzler
I said they should trade him a while ago. As far as players go making 5 mil a season hes pretty good. He can play center has played short has speed and uses it and smashes lefties. At worst hes a platoon player and defensive replacement late in games. I think the NL is better for him cuz he can be a bench bat for pitchers as well as the above mentioned things. In a perfect world i think the jays wanta AAA pitcher for depth or bullpin arm.
ATL_ranger
Makes a lot of sense for the Orioles, they need another right-hitting outfielder to round out their bench
ATL_ranger
Well f*ck me, right? Lol
bastageman
O’s have too many outfielders
outinleftfield
The Padres paid a lot of money just to get rid of him. Now the Blue Jays are willing to eat another $5 million just to get him off the team. His poor play can’t be the whole story with BJ.
realgone2
I always heard rumors that when he was an ass in Atlanta.
thegreatcerealfamine
And where did you hear these rumors?
reflect
From Adele
baileydogg
I think the Jay’s only owe him $1mil for this year. The rest has been paid last yr and the Padres this yr
kehoet83
Tigers. 3 Uptons. I hope not.
TheMichigan
Three?
cvarneski
Kate
Thegreatandpowerfulsimba
Now that’s a trade I’d nut up my biggest prospect for 😉
kehoet83
Yes!
DarthDbacks
I’m guessing Kate Upton and she would be the best of the bunch
reflect
She definitely catches balls better than the other two.
biller
Jays sign Pagan now?
bfolls
I think it’s more “can we dump 10% of his contract or do we need to eat the whole thing” type of situation
lowtalker1
The whole thing? Do you want the other 11.25 mil as well?
sufferforsnakes
Glad we signed Austin Jackson.
partyatnapolis
same
thegreatcerealfamine
Who is we?
sufferforsnakes
Tribe.
thegreatcerealfamine
Curious..where did you see that?
thegreatcerealfamine
My bad,was thinking Desmond Jennings for some reason.
asuchrisc
Toronto won’t find a taker. He’ll be cut loose then find a job in the summer. A desperate team will need a stop gap while someone recovers from an injury. Maybe this will give him a change in attitude.
A'sfaninUK
Makes perfect sense for Oakland, Raj vs RH, BJ vs LH, better defense than any OAK OF.
diddlez
Melvin never plays another day in the majors. His retirement just got a full season earlier. Congrats.
A'sfaninUK
He was a 20/20 guy last year lol
Larry David's Joe Pepitone Jersey
I wouldn’t go that far. He’s a slightly above replacement level OF who can hit some home runs and steal some bases. 20/20 is certainly far from the full story with Upton (low OBP, tons of strikeouts, middling defense) but I can still see him finding a bench job somewhere.
Phillies2017
He was tho. 20 HRs 27 SBs. I dont care about the full story, I would pay $5,000,000 for a guy who could be 20/20. Makes sense for either Cincy, Detroit or Atlanta. Cincy makes the most sense as GAB has short fences.
A'sfaninUK
It’s wild how Toronto has the finances to just throw $5M away.
I’d actually bet on Upton being good in a contract year again. Truly unbelievable move.
baileydogg
I think when the Jay’s picked up Upton from the Padres they agreed to pay $5mil salary. There is only $1mil left for the Jay’s in 2017
bigdaddyt
No need to constantly update article just say “no team in their right mind will take upton”
chesteraarthur
Have you seen the month+ updates on Quintana?
edawg1512
Call me crazy but if he gets released minor league deal back to the braves
SamFuldsFive
Token “Braves” post.
stymeedone
Detroit would have traded you either or both of Mike Pelfrey and Mark Lowe for him.
I BLEED Blue
dudes been garbage for a few years. go home bj your drunk enjoy the money you made because your last name was Upton and watch baseball from your couch
key22
The Jays are willing to eat Upton’s contract but not Smoak’s? Of the two Upton is far more useful. Both are terrible hitters but at Upton can at least run and play all three outfield positions. Smoak is an average first baseman defensively and can’t hit either right handed or left handed pitching and can’t run. And he can only adequately play first base.
I understand dumping Upton if they sign Pagan but surely the Jays can find a better first baseman? Upton can at least fill in for people. Bautista or Pence play first and Upton can takeover in left or right and even center to give Pillar the odd day off. Upton will strikeout and hit homers to the same level of Smoak.
I’m no Upton fan but at least he has SOME skills other than the bat that is useful to a baseball team. Smoak does not. – and Smoak had a truly terrible spring with the bat. The fact that management says Morales will play some first is pretty telling.
There has to be a free agent/out of options first baseman out there who is better than Smoak!
catcher12
I’d like to see the Jays sign James Loney. They are still marginal first basemen but was very frustrated with Smoak last season though he got his power numbers back up. He was a highly touted rookie but has failed to fulfill. I remember Loney absolutely destroying the jays back when he was with the Rays.
Catch tha Taste
The guy is no longer an MLB player… right move by the BJs.
Solaris611
For any organization that feels they need more Ks in their lineup, Upton’s your guy.
jimmertee
All these players that are being talked about here are now support players and won’t help a team win much except depth. I would love the Jays to make a big trade at this point since all the free agent signings worth anything that they would need are done. All this talk about support players means little to winning in the big picture.. Quality depth in the starting rotation is still the number one need followed by more late inning relievers – the current batch of reliever signings includes a few good ones and a few stinkers. Barring trades, Jays 10 games out by trade deadline and this is coming from a die-hard Jays fan, former season ticket holder etc.
lesterdnightfly
“All this talk about support players means little to winning in the big picture.”
Tell that to the Cubs, Nats, Dodgers, Red Sox, Indians, and other successful teams, whose support players are a big factor. Bench depth is crucial to success.
Zach725
Dude was ridiculous as a brave. He has a pathetic work ethic, and I remember him getting ejected for arguing a pitch right down the middle.
tigerdoc616
Why would any team make a deal for BJ Upton at this point? They know the Jays have to waive him since he did not make the team. If they wait for him to clear waivers then they can pursue him as a free agent and offer him the league minimum, leaving Toronto on the hook for the rest of his salary.
giants51
Upton is done….. he’s not worth it