The Toronto Blue Jays are going all-in on offence while improving their outfield defence by nabbing Melvin “The Artist Formerly Known As B.J.” Upton Jr. before the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline.
Upton will cross dugouts from the visiting San Diego Padres to join the Blue Jays in exchange for Class A pitching prospect Hansel Rodriguez. The Padres will reportedly pay all but $5 million of Upton’s contract over the next two seasons.
The 31-year-old outfielder is in the midst of his best season since 2012, smashing 16 home runs and swiping 20 bases.
Plain and simple, Melvin Upton makes the Jays a better team in almost every conceivable way, both for this season and for next season.
First and foremost, it adds more speed and another quality bat to an already explosive offence. If you thought Monday’s lineup was a modern-day Murderers’ Row, just think about what it will look like with Upton’s name on the card.
It also means more bench time for the two weakest links in the Jays’ offence. Ezequiel Carrera has been playing out of his mind in 2016, but a cursory look at his career numbers suggests this pace is nowhere close to sustainable. Big Zeke is an ideal fourth outfielder, but you don’t want to be counting on the guy for big hits come crunch time. Also projecting to occupy more pine is the newly re-signed Justin Smoak, whose defence is nice to have, but he has never done enough with the bat to earn an everyday spot in the lineup.
The presence of Upton allows Jays manager John Gibbons to rotate through the outfield, first base and DH spots in the lineup, giving guys like Jose Bautista and Michael Saunders breaks from playing the field, which quite frankly is worth the move alone. Upton’s defence is far superior to that of Joey Bats and Captain Canada, and he can even spell Kevin Pillar in centre field if need be.
Looking ahead to next season, Upton is a viable insurance policy should the Jays lose Bautista, Saunders and/or Edwin Encarnacion to free agency. Having Upton locked up for 2017 provides another option in the outfield, which was looking pretty bleak with just Pillar, Carrera and Dalton Pompey under contract.
In short, there’s a lot to like about this move. It may not be the bullpen help the Blue Jays need, but it improves two areas of the team with one player, without giving up anything of consequence.
You stay classy, San Diego.
Chris Suppa is a freelance writer and photographer based in Toronto. Follow him at @Suppa55 for somewhat-coherent ramblings about the Blue Jays and on Instagram at @chrissuppaphotography.
