Braves donate Justin Upton to Padres for prospects

John Shea @JohnSheaHey
Yes, #sfgiants spoke with #braves and like Justin Upton. Chris Johnson wouldn't be a fit as part of any trade.

My comments: If the Giants won't budge on the above I am not sure we can find a match here.
 
If our new hitting coach could get BJ back to his TB days and get Simmons to not swing for the fence this team would be in excellent shape.
 
BJ's problem is completely mental. He has all the tools to be the guy we want him to be. He's just gotta find the right person to pull it out of him.
 
DirkPiggler said:
It's his eyes. He can't see worth a crap.
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I'm sure that didn't help, but he wears glasses now.

My 12 year old could get a fastball by him while he's waggling and loading and reloading and closing. All the athleticism in the world doesn't help when you tie yourself up in knots.

Use a smaller bat. Close your stance. Get the bat in a hitting position. Load early. Take your hands directly to the baseball.
 
Hudson2 said:
If our new hitting coach could get BJ back to his TB days and get Simmons to not swing for the fence this team would be in excellent shape.
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From your lips to God's ears. It has been so long since BJ has been an exceptional hitter I wonder if it's still in there.

There's still a lot to like with Simmons, and a lot to work on. I remember a quote from Greg Walker last year that I didn't like at all - "I just kind of leave him alone, he's a smart guy, he figures it out." The only way that was the right thing to do is if A was too stubborn to take coaching (and I could see that). Otherwise, there's a lot to work on. What kind of hitter are you? What's your philosophy? How are we going to address all these infield popups? Can you lag the bat head and go to right when you should? Can you get a bunt down?

As skilled and polished as he is afield, he's very raw at the plate.
 
MadduxFanII said:
It occurs to me that there's a chance we'll trade Justin and still enter spring training with BJ on the roster. That would be an unfortunate development.
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You would be surprised by this?

No one is taking BJ. I would not be an advocate of taking less return than we should by offloading a sunk cost.
 
GovClintonTyree said:
I'm sure that didn't help, but he wears glasses now.

My 12 year old could get a fastball by him while he's waggling and loading and reloading and closing. All the athleticism in the world doesn't help when you tie yourself up in knots.

Use a smaller bat. Close your stance. Get the bat in a hitting position. Load early. Take your hands directly to the baseball.
Click to expand...

Glasses help, but they aren't always a cure-all.

His stance is messed up also, as you said. Even if he fixes all that other stuff, if he can't get some corrective lenses that fix his eyes it won't matter too much.

Sometime in the second half of the season there was a fly ball at the fence he went after and missed. He seemed to have a bead on it, timed his jump perfectly, had his glove in what appeared to be perfect position, and just flat out missed the ball by a couple of feet. If he can't see it in that circumstance there's no way he's going to see well enough to distinguish pitches, pick up spin, or even judge the strike zone.
 
DirkPiggler said:
Glasses help, but they aren't always a cure-all.

His stance is messed up also, as you said. Even if he fixes all that other stuff, if he can't get some corrective lenses that fix his eyes it won't matter too much.

Sometime in the second half of the season there was a fly ball at the fence he went after and missed. He seemed to have a bead on it, timed his jump perfectly, had his glove in what appeared to be perfect position, and just flat out missed the ball by a couple of feet. If he can't see it in that circumstance there's no way he's going to see well enough to distinguish pitches, pick up spin, or even judge the strike zone.
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Maybe he was high.
 
GovClintonTyree said:
From your lips to God's ears. It has been so long since BJ has been an exceptional hitter I wonder if it's still in there.

There's still a lot to like with Simmons, and a lot to work on. I remember a quote from Greg Walker last year that I didn't like at all - "I just kind of leave him alone, he's a smart guy, he figures it out." The only way that was the right thing to do is if A was too stubborn to take coaching (and I could see that). Otherwise, there's a lot to work on. What kind of hitter are you? What's your philosophy? How are we going to address all these infield popups? Can you lag the bat head and go to right when you should? Can you get a bunt down?

As skilled and polished as he is afield, he's very raw at the plate.
Click to expand...

Simmons got wrapped up in his power numbers from 2013, classic rap. He has the mind of a power hitter, how do you translate that to his body? Kind of hard to do. Hopefully the new coach will not turn him into a straight punch and judy hitter, but he absolutely needs to cut out his popups.
 
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