How's this for a "what if?"

rico43

rico43

<B>Director of Minor League Reports</B>
Looking up some old news about Edward Salcedo, I came across this item in an old MLBTR roundup:

The Nationals have been in contact with free agent outfielder B.J. Upton, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, and are "expected to have increased communication" as the offseason progresses. Upton visited the Braves and Phillies earlier this week.

How might this have changed the balance of power? Kind of gets a well, hell, from me.
 
rico43 said:
Looking up some old news about Edward Salcedo, I came across this item in an old MLBTR roundup:

The Nationals have been in contact with free agent outfielder B.J. Upton, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, and are "expected to have increased communication" as the offseason progresses. Upton visited the Braves and Phillies earlier this week.

How might this have changed the balance of power? Kind of gets a well, hell, from me.
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He'd be averaging .280 with 20+ hr's and 80+rbi's with them.
 
And it took a fifth year and an extra $1.5 million per year for us to land him because Wren thought Upton to the Phillies or Nats would rob us of a missing piece.
 
Imagine if we could of gotten Span instead and the whole JUP deal somehow go down. He's not amazing, but he's a whole hell of a lot better.

Span CF (L)

TLS 2B (L)

JUP LF (R)

Freeman 1B (L)

Gattis C (R)

Heyward RF (L)

CJoh 3B (R)

Simba SS (R)

Wow. There can be some swapping around, but you get the gist.
 
I would take Ben Revere at this point. He is worlds better than anything BJ could dream of.
 
Walker and Fredi must really think BJ is eventually going to come out of his funk but frankly, I don't see any cause for optimism.
 
That article just proves that Wren wasn't truly boneheaded in his initial offer. Us, Nats and Phillies were after a CF. Phillies were supposedly the hottest for Span or Bourn, Nats would go for any of the 3 and we obviously were hottest for Bossman. Wren didn't want to be the last man at the table with the last CF option and have to pay way more because of that or worse, miss out on a CF option. Basically he wanted to avoid another Lowe situation. Of course the Twins monkey wrenched it by trading Span and Revere a move no one expected. In the end Wren should have been patient, but if he had a crystal ball we would have made the crazy draft pick of Trout at number 7 not minor.
 
It really sucks we are going to have to deal with his contract for another 3 years. I just hope that when his eventual benching happens that it doesn't hurt our relationship with Justin because I'd like him to be here long term.
 
Big Picture, while Bossman is hardly worth the money, he's not been terrible. Sure in only 23 games TLS has passed him, but Upton and Tron not hitting but playing good (or in Tron's case amazing) defense at a defensive premium position holds value. Johnson on the other hand has to hit better.

We just need to stop hitting BJ 2. Move him to 7 or 8. Have our 3 worst hitters sit at the bottom and sort the rest out. I'd go Heyward, Justin, Freeman, Gattis, TLS. Some would flip Heyward and TLS I wouldn't. Heyward walks as much (currently more), is faster, and overall a better hitter. I'm not to believe in putting guys in a position to drive in runs by removing guys from positions to score runs.
 
zitothebrave said:
That article just proves that Wren wasn't truly boneheaded in his initial offer. Us, Nats and Phillies were after a CF. Phillies were supposedly the hottest for Span or Bourn, Nats would go for any of the 3 and we obviously were hottest for Bossman. Wren didn't want to be the last man at the table with the last CF option and have to pay way more because of that or worse, miss out on a CF option. Basically he wanted to avoid another Lowe situation. Of course the Twins monkey wrenched it by trading Span and Revere a move no one expected. In the end Wren should have been patient, but if he had a crystal ball we would have made the crazy draft pick of Trout at number 7 not minor.
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If we had signed Upton for what the Indians shelled out for Bourn, I don't think the deal would have been as bad. My on-going beef is that Wren tied up a crapload of budget and, in my opinion (which may well be wrong), he should have tried to piece things together in CF for the short term instead of making a big investment in the position.

Twins did surprise, but they landed a couple of good arms in the Span and Revere deals. I think Span is a very good and somewhat underrated player. I've never been that much on Revere and I saw a lot of both these guys in Minnesota. Both are playing better than Upton the Elder right now (though Revere not by that much).
 
NinersSBChamps said:
I would take Ben Revere at this point. He is worlds better than anything BJ could dream of.
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I would take Cunningham or Constanza at this point, either of whom would suck at least slightly less than BJ (unfortunate pun unintended but acknowledged preemptively, albeit reluctantly).
 
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