Blue Jays acquire Melvin Upton

[Santoki]

Will there be people clamoring for him to bat lead off like Revere last summer?

Of course they will. Fast black guy = leadoff hitter. Already heard it on the FAN this morning. The average fan has no concept of what OBP is.

[Santoki]

If we offered Hansel for him, you've got to wonder what the Orioles were offering. Gretel? Derek?

So it looks like Bautista will DH and EE will play first (or vice versa) when Upton plays against lefties. That works for me.

If anyone knows who the O's 18th+ ranked players are in their system off the top of their head I would be I shocked

[ldnk]

I'm still comdfused by this. A RH power hitting OF seems like it would be well down the list of needs without a follow up move.

To be fair, last year my first thought at Tulowitzki's acquisition was, yeah, but we need pitching help, not more offense. The prospect isn't the end of the world to lose, the Padres are covering most of his salary so it certainly doesn't hurt from a financial standpoint and Upton is an upgrade defensively on Bautista.

[dagger]

If we offered Hansel for him, you've got to wonder what the Orioles were offering. Gretel? Derek?

So it looks like Bautista will DH and EE will play first (or vice versa) when Upton plays against lefties. That works for me.

Apparently, Jimenez is a net negative, at his salary. The O's didn't even want to take on Upton's salary, on a net net basis.

[Raps in 4]

I'm still comdfused by this. A RH power hitting OF seems like it would be well down the list of needs without a follow up move.

You do know we just lost bautista for 6 weeks and his replacement was a scrub who can't hit the broadside of a barn now. This also means less smoak. Now we can get a cheap mark Lowe type reliever then were set.

Upton and Carrera have the same wRC+ this season.

[BramptonYute]

I'm still comdfused by this. A RH power hitting OF seems like it would be well down the list of needs without a follow up move.

You do know we just lost bautista for 6 weeks and his replacement was a scrub who can't hit the broadside of a barn now. This also means less smoak. Now we can get a cheap mark Lowe type reliever then were set.

Plus he's gonna take JB's spot when jose leaves in the offseason

[Xaos]

I like this signing. Didn't cost us anything.

[LLJ]

My memories of him are only as a Ray. His numbers were actually more modest than I thought, but it seemed like every week I'd see a BJ Upton highlight on the news back in those days, giving me the mistaken impression that he was always awesome.

[JN]

Seems like a smart trade for flexibility this year and next.

One can only hope that Gibbons does not intend to waste the DH spot every time he decides to bring him into hit for Smoak.

[super_balls]

My memories of him are only as a Ray. His numbers were actually more modest than I thought, but it seemed like every week I'd see a BJ Upton highlight on the news back in those days, giving me the mistaken impression that he was always awesome.

Yup, I remember those days.. Every morning watching Sportnsnet in high school. I always heard something about BJ Upton and Tulo.

[ldnk]

I'm fine if the plan isn't to simply have a guy like Upton be Jose next year. Paper payroll where they can claim him as a 15M player while paying him 5M.

[BramptonYute]

Interesting, Upton is owed roughly 5 mill for the rest of the season, so next year he's essentially free. Really good trade for us.

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

The Blue Jays were not prioritizing an outfielder in trade discussions. But they saw enough physical fragility in their outfield of Michael Saunders, Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista that they would not say no to a sweetheart deal, and the costs for Melvin Upton Jr. fell into that category.

The Padres were willing to take Hansel Rodriguez, a right-hander pitching in Rookie ball whom Toronto did not have internally among its top 30 prospects. The Padres were willing to eat all but $5 million of the $22 million Upton is owed through next season.

With that combination, Toronto saw the value of adding a player who can defend all three outfield positions, run and hit for power. Upton is enjoying a renaissance season (16 homers, 20 steals) and provides a modicum of righty bat protection with Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion likely to leave as free agents after this season.

[The_Hater]

So now that everyone has had a good look at Melvin Upton, is it pretty clear that he's every bit as frustrating to watch at the plate as Smoak?

[Rhettmatic]

So now that everyone has had a good look at Melvin Upton, is it pretty clear that he's every bit as frustrating to watch at the plate as Smoak?

You're asking people to judge seven games in which Upton hit 410 percentage points below his season OPS? To what end?

[dante9988]

So now that everyone has had a good look at Melvin Upton, is it pretty clear that he's every bit as frustrating to watch at the plate as Smoak?

Everyone looks like crap facing houston right now. Can't wait for them to get out of there and destroy the royals this weekend.

[Skin Blues]

We've really been spoiled the past few years with how crazy good our offense is. Guys like Smoak and Upton and Pillar are what make up the majority of other teams' lineups. Even when they're good, they're not great, and when they're bad, it can be ugly. Upton is looking really ugly right now, but it's a very, very small sample. It's only noticeable because he's played so few games here.

[Santoki]

At the very least his defensive upgrade over Saunders or Bautista is a lot more pronounced than Smoak's over Edwin's.

I'd be fine with playing him everyday and DH'ing Jose but can understand needing to get Edwin breaks and playing Smoak. They should platoon but I'd be more inclined to give Upton a 60/40 split than vice versa.

[I_Like_Dirt]

At the very least his defensive upgrade over Saunders or Bautista is a lot more pronounced than Smoak's over Edwin's.

This is absolutely the case. Defensively, he and Pillar can practically cover the entire outfield. It's been awesome. And with Donaldson, Tulo and even Travis who has been surprisingly effective defensively in the infield, the team really doesn't give up any of those bad luck hits anymore.

And I harbour no illusions of him being a good offensive player, but he'll be better than he's shown against the Astros. And the defense is worth it. Give EE a break and play Smoak occasionally, but unless Upton really is Thole 2.0 on offense, he really needs to be in the lineup more often than not.

[CrookedJ]

This whole team has looked like AA players at the plate this series

32 innings, 6 runs
hits : 19
K : 50
bb : 7

I think BJ is doing a great job of fitting in.