Justin Upton to Atlanta

[magnumo]

Apparently, the Braves are adding Justin Upton to his brother (B.J.) and Jason Heyward in their starting outfield:

Braves acquire J. Upton, Johnson from D-backs | MLB.com: News

Personally, I'm very happy that the Pirates did NOT trade for Justin Upton.

I recognize that some fans thoroughly demean intangibles (such as "team chemistry" and "good in the clubhouse")..... but my personal experience is that those intangibles can make a significant contribution to team success. Further, it is my opinion that, when the Pirates were playing well over the past two seasons, those intangibles helped significantly and allowed the team to over-achieve.

I support the process of trying to add performance (either through adding players OR developing existing players) while MAINTAINING team chemistry and team spirit. While Justin Upton probably would do the former (add performance), he almost certainly would hurt the latter (team chemistry). Let the Braves deal with Upton's baggage, save the money, keep the players and prospects which we would have traded, and hope that Marte and Snider (or some combination of Tabata, Sands, Presley, Robinson, whoever) add performance to the Pirates' 2013 lineup.

 

[bamabear82]

 

[thedddd]

Kinda glad also, not sure if the Pirates had the talent to spare for that deal.

bamabear....How do Brave fans feel about letting Prado go? I am very surprised he was part of the deal.

 

[element1286]

The D'backs didn't seem to have a concrete asking price, last week it was Tijauan Walker and Nick Franklin and now it Martin Prado and some decent minor league players. It is very strange.

 

[sychmd]

braves gave up a lot for a risk.
having the brother in the OF gives him the best chance at success, but a lot to give up and the pirates dont have that kind of surplus to trade for a maybe.

 

[Etrius24]

Braves have a heck of a outfield all of a sudden... Prado was not under contract beyond this season... So it was mostly for prospects if they cannot lock Prado up long term.

I am sort of meh on the deal.. I do not cheer for either team and I do not think either team swindled the other... It could break so that either of these teams wins the trade.. but we might need to wait 3-4 years to determine that..

 

[bamabear82]

Kinda glad also, not sure if the Pirates had the talent to spare for that deal.

bamabear....How do Brave fans feel about letting Prado go? I am very surprised he was part of the deal.

At first glance it stung quite a bit, guy's a class act. He was without a doubt my favorite Brave (aside from Chipper). I decided to take an optimistic approach to the whole thing though.

There's a chance the Upton's playing together on a rather talented team could benefit both of them. If you take into consideration the guys we already have there's quite a bit of pop in this lineup and they should see better pitches and hopefully have a better chance to reach their potential. We've got a young, extremely talented team now and if they can feed off each other this could be a special season imo, even without Prado. I just think Upton has more of an upside than Prado seeing he's still so young. I'm sure there will be some strikeouts but there will also be lots of balls reaching the seats.

Defensively the biggest worry will be 3rd, which is where Prado would've been but the way things were going it was looking like he would be gone after this season anyway so I figure, fuck it, Johnson and Francisco could make up for it offensively. The pitching staff should be solid, the offense has the potential to be extremely dangerous and as long as we don't have any major injuries I think it's very realistic that the Braves should be in the thick of the division, if not NL, hunt this coming year. Especially if everybody jells and we don't have any Upton diva drama. Sorry bout the long winded post, but if you couldn't tell, I'm really excited to get this season started lol.

 

[thedddd]

At first glance it stung quite a bit, guy's a class act. He was without a doubt my favorite Brave (aside from Chipper). I decided to take an optimistic approach to the whole thing though.

There's a chance the Upton's playing together on a rather talented team could benefit both of them. If you take into consideration the guys we already have there's quite a bit of pop in this lineup and they should see better pitches and hopefully have a better chance to reach their potential. We've got a young, extremely talented team now and if they can feed off each other this could be a special season imo, even without Prado. I just think Upton has more of an upside than Prado seeing he's still so young. I'm sure there will be some strikeouts but there will also be lots of balls reaching the seats.

Defensively the biggest worry will be 3rd, which is where Prado would've been but the way things were going it was looking like he would be gone after this season anyway so I figure, fuck it, Johnson and Francisco could make up for it offensively. The pitching staff should be solid, the offense has the potential to be extremely dangerous and as long as we don't have any major injuries I think it's very realistic that the Braves should be in the thick of the division, if not NL, hunt this coming year. Especially if everybody jells and we don't have any Upton diva drama. Sorry bout the long winded post, but if you couldn't tell, I'm really excited to get this season started lol.

No problem...Yeah I am looking forward to this season. Granted my hopes of a Pirate team being successful are slim but I can't wait.

On Paper that might be one of the best OF's in baseball or the National league but like you said 3B will be interesting but if the can put up the numbers as a platoon it won't matter much. Chipper made up for the questionable glove at times with his bat.

Also like etrius stated and I forgot Prado is a FA after this year and no way could the Braves afford him and the Upton's after this season so to get an extra piece and including him in the deal rather than losing for nothing makes sense. I know a few Brave fans that are sad to see him go but the prospect of what that OF could bring makes them feel better.