B.J. Upton Just Works Here , 24 Others Play Here
B.J. Upton is 23 years old and living a dream of playing major league baseball; or is it he is working at baseball? When questioned about being benched, he replied flatly “I just work here” he since has tried to clean up that mess with hollow statements about how he learned his lesson and Manger Joe Maddon was right, blah blah blah. However the first statement was closer to the truth. B.J. Upton does not appear to happy to playing baseball in a Rays uniform and that is something I hope brings on a change in scenery for Upton.
The Rays success this year has been nothing short of remarkable. The Rays are not a team loaded with 300 hitters, home run sluggers or RBI machines. What they do have is buy in by the players, and a youthful enthusiasm for playing the game, not working at the game. That is the Joe Maddon influence.
The buy in stops short of all 25 players. The Rays have 24 . B.J Upton is not buying it. Upton is a selfish youngster who plays the game with sense of entitlement, and frankly he is fast wearing out his welcome. Just last night, Upton grounded out to second base and yet gain he jogged down the line; so what lesson did he learn ?
Coaches have publicly defended Upton since the day he was signed as a 18 year old phenom shortstop. Joe Maddon is the consummate positive attitude guy , but even he has to feel frustrated with the manner in which Upton carries himself. So what do the Rays do with a player loaded with potential and a attitude to match?
The Rays addressed this problem this past winter with Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes. Applying the same remedy with Upton seems like a good plan. Upton is a supremely talented athlete, plays center-field like he was born there, but his time to go is now.
Playing the game with 24 players every night makes it tough. As I said Upton is 23 years old , so for those of you blaming his youth , Evan Longoria is a year younger, it doesn’t seem to affect him.
Game Notes: Andy Sonnastine pitched as well as he can against the Mariners. 1 run doesnt win many games in the American League.
August 8th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
couldnt have said it better.
August 10th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
And yet Upton still leads the team in OBP and is one of the top 10 CFers in the league in overall defense.
Maybe the others should buy in harder.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:49 am
As I mentioned he plays center field like he was born there, his OBP is high because he walks so much taking pitches , He really lets the ball get deep on him before he swings and that produces many ground ball outs. 51 times at the Trop alone, I’m a bit more concerned about a July Avg of .203 and August at .243 through today , his 7 HRS don’t scare anybody either.
That isnt to say he cant trun it around , but I really wonder if it will be here
August 16th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
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