Last winter was indeed a good one for Atlanta Braves center fielder B.J. Upton. Upton entered free agency for the first time in his Major League Baseball career as he left The Tampa Bay Rays to sign a five-year, $75.25 million deal to join The Braves. Before you knew it Braves general manager Frank Wren had worked on a deal to acquire B.J.’s older brother Justin from The Arizona Diamondbacks. Not only did B.J. Upton get paid, but he would now be playing with his big brother.
Bourn was vital to the success of The Braves last season who won 94 games as his 42 stolen bases were second in The National League. Gonzalez and Wren were hoping for that kind of production from B.J. Upton as well, but they haven’t received it so far. Upton’s attitude was questioned before while he was a member of The Rays. Upton was once pulled from a game by Rays manager Joe Maddon for not hustling. Upton also drew the ire of Rays third baseman Evan Longoria as the two had a spat in the dugout during a Rays home game for Upton’s lack of hustle. Incidents such as these occurred when Upton wasn’t making the big bucks in Tampa so why would Wren give $75 million to a player that has been questioned about his effort? When players are in The Rays organization they tend to play with a ton of effort because they know that a max deal will not be in the cards in Tampa, but it could be with another team.
Upton left The American League East which is arguably the toughest division in baseball for the lighter hitting National League, but he has struggled mightily. Upton only has a career batting average of .252 with an on-base percentage of.333 while Bourn’s career batting average is .273 with a career on-base percentage of .368. The Braves entered the day sitting in the catbird’s seat in The NL East as they will continue to slug it out with The Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies all season long. Big brother Justin is doing his part for The Braves and he is leaving little brother B.J. behind.
Source:Baseball-reference.com
Leave A Comment