Justin Upton and Texas

[cajunrevenge]

I am starting to accept that Justin will always be a .850 type of hitter who is hot and cold. Still worth what he is paid but still living off his hype/talent. We know the Rangers will attempt to trade for him this offseason and last offseason they rejected including Profar in a deal for Justin. This offseason Justin rebounded although not to where we wanted him to and Profar had a pretty disappointing rookie season. If Texas were inclined to include Profar this time should Wren consider it? If Profar just put up a .800 OPS playing 2B that would make him more valuable than Justin and his .818 OPS playing left. The Rangers obviously still believe Justin can be the star everyone predicted he would be. The big plus for the Braves would be that the difference in salary is 14 million and we would have Profar far longer than Justin is signed for. We already have a hard time seeing the Braves being able to keep all their key players in the coming years so this could solve that problem. There is speculation that the Rangers would part with Martin Perez in a trade for a middle of the order hitter. The Braves could pursue him instead, doubt the Rangers would offer both but if they did Wren should/would jump at that deal. Maybe the Rangers get desperate after missing the playoffs the last 2 years. Also if they trade for Justin there is a chance we could pawn BJ off on them. They desperately need outfielders and maybe they think BJ could atleast return to 2012 form back in the AL in a very hitter friendly park. How much would you offer to cover of BJ's remaining salary to entice them? 5 million per year for the remainder of his deal? Having BJ would make Justin more likely to re-sign with them so that is some positive value for them.

With the money saved the Braves could look for a short term LF option like Beltran who was more consistent and out hit Justin this last year. He also has a reputation for hitting in the playoffs. With the Braves luck if they sign him that would be the one playoff series he goes 0 for the series.

[PawPawMaxwell]

If you get Profar at .5M and Uggla is released and signs somewhere for league minimum: net cost for next year is 13M. Voila,, problem solved.
Sending BJ off and paying 20M creates another problem.
Can Beltran play a full season?
I gather Rangers are already trolling Profar and 2 prospects for Price. Dont know why Justin wouldnt be worth at least as much if not more..

[emk418]

If you get Profar at .5M and Uggla is released and signs somewhere for league minimum: net cost for next year is 13M. Voila,, problem solved.
Sending BJ off and paying 20M creates another problem.
Can Beltran play a full season?
I gather Rangers are already trolling Profar and 2 prospects for Price. Dont know why Justin wouldnt be worth at least as much if not more..

Justin will not get us Profar. The Rangers turned that down last season from the Dbacks. They easily can just sign Beltran who will put up as good or better numbers than Justin.

[cajunrevenge]

Beltran had 550 at bats this year.

[CrimsonCowboy]

I'm not convinced Texas will move Profar. They could, absolutely. I think they may be more inclined to try and move Ian Kinsler.

Though on the other hand, Texas moving Kinsler could be like the Braves trying to move Uggla.

[PawPawMaxwell]

Justin will not get us Profar. The Rangers turned that down last season from the Dbacks. They easily can just sign Beltran who will put up as good or better numbers than Justin.

Reported that Kinsler would move to the OF then he reneged (I think in ST). Profar is now excess, As I said above, report that Rangers may dangle Profar and two for Price.

[cajunrevenge]

Profar's star has dimmed since last offseason and the rangers are more desperate having barely missed the playoffs. We know they have a hard on for Justin. They have Kinsler locked up on an untradeable contract who refuses to move off 2B and they have several good middke infield prospects.

The rangers need a lot of OF help. They could trade for Upton and still sign Beltran.

[Tapate50]

They will likely offer Cruz too

[bravesnumberone]

Not sure how it will work, but we owe the Rangers a good fleecing.

[cajunrevenge]

Well for those of you who are still not over the Teixeira trade I bet they would be more than happy to give us back Elvis for Justin consider he is owed 126.5 million over the next 9 years.

[The Chosen One]

Watch us get Beltran and then he proceeds to suck in the playoffs after all the years he's dominated.

[yeezus]

Watch us get Beltran and then he proceeds to suck in the playoffs after all the years he's dominated.

Beltran would bat .150 and not make the playoff roster if we signed him.

[The Chosen One]

Beltran would bat .150 and not make the playoff roster if we signed him.

He might make the playoff roster, then proceed to go 0-13 with 7 k's.

[zitothebrave]

In what world does Upton get you Profar?

This team wouldn't have traded Profar for Upton last offseason now Justin is a year closer to FA, sure he's had a rebound year but Texas JMO isn't that desperate. That said I'm thinking that Profar and many other of their top prospects will be taking their talents to South Beach this year and the Rangers will be bringing in Stanton and maybe someone else will be on their way to Texas

Short of some team blowing down the door to get Justin we're dumb if we trade him.

[cajunrevenge]

The world is the one where Profar put up a .644 OPS in his first year and the Rangers lost the play-in game for the second year in a row and Texas was 23rd in the majors in runs scored largely due to getting nothing from their outfield outside of Nelson Cruz. You know what desperation looks like? Desperation looks like the Rangers trading for Alex Rios's 13 million salary and his .770 OPS. Profar got outhit a good deal by Andrelton Simmons. Profar might one day hit like he was projected but what if thats 2-3 years from now. The Rangers cant wait on that. I bet you they regret not trading Profar last year now. If they had Justin they would have won their division and not had their season come down to a 1 game playoff. Who knows, Profar might never live up to the hype. Thats a risk I think is worth taking for the Braves. For the Rangers its trading from a strength to fill a weakness. Kinsler is way overpaid and could only be traded for a BJ or Uggla level bad contract. Their two best prospects are Luis Sardinas who plays SS and Roughned Odor who plays 2B and both will be in AA next year.

[Knucksie]

Why is Justin Upton the new designated whipping boy?

[yeezus]

Why is Justin Upton the new designated whipping boy?

I don't know about whipping boy, but he was at least a little disappointing this season. Not even with his overall numbers so much, but just the way he looked at the plate a lot. Career high in walks, but struck out a lot and didn't hit with enough power to make up for it. He could have been pressing much of the season, who knows.

[bravesnumberone]

Justin carried us the first month of the year, but his swinging through or being constantly late on 93 mph down the middle was a little irritating.

[cajunrevenge]

Why is Justin Upton the new designated whipping boy?

Justin has about 6 full years in the majors now. He just had his lowest batting average since 2008. As a slugger and middle of the order bat he has never surpassed 88 RBI. This last season he struck out 40 more times than last year in the same amount of at bats. 90% of his production came in months that start with A. His fielding took a nose dive this year. This isnt really what we expected when we traded for him. If this is what we are going to get the next 2 years then it is probably in the Braves best interest to trade him to a team like the Rangers who still value him as a MVP caliber player. Based on what he has done so far its questionable whether the Braves should even re-sign him if given the opportunity. I dont think the Braves trade him but I think they will end up regretting it.

[PawPawMaxwell]

I dont look at him as a whipping boy at all. I look at what I think we need to move foreward and what we realistically have that can get those players.
Truly the only immediate needs are a 2nd baseman that can contribute, whether at the top or bottom of the batting order and undoubtedly some relief help (Im not counting on Venters and OFlay).
Down the road in 2015 and shortly beyond we will probably need some OF help and 3rd base.
All that we have on the ML roster that we can afford to move are Upton and pitchers. Of the pitchers, Kimbrel gets the biggest return.
I havent seen a minor league game since I bought into the hype on Brayan Pena. When I say hype I mean that exactly. I traveled hours each way 3 times to see the Braves catcher of the future only to never see him do anything other than DH and that he didnt do very well. So Im sceptic enough to think our minors cant bring enough in return.