I will ask the Wilpons to take down their fraud tribute to Jackie Robinson…and replace it with a tribute to Cap Anson.

The Braves have the BEST OUTFIELD in baseball
A Stud 1B
A Stud Catcher
A good hitting 2B

If the mets signed BJ and traded for Justin, met fans would merely talk about how the brothers are both attitude problems and clubhouse cancers.

same ol met fans

But you guys seem to always bring it up whenever you come across anyone whom has similar views with Alex, Bayonne, Maniac etc. of the Mets current situation.

2.”We SALUTES YOU”—–eh I dunno

Upton’s 162 game average over the last four years:

.286 BA, 26 HR, 87 RBI, 22 SB, 68 BB, and .846 OPS

So, I think those numbers would be the “real” Upton(which is very good), AND Upton has the potential to improve.

Paul Lo Duca ‏@paulloduca16

All the Upton trade means is that the Braves will lead the league in strikeouts…playing for the 3 run homer rarely works.

And I agree with you on potential. The problem is what if it does not develop. BJ Upton is more past the potential stage and into production. His stats are okay but nothing stellar. And Justin, injury aside, had stats that resembled 2010. So where 2010 and 2012 the misleading years or was his “breakout” in 2011 the one. Which is the real Justin Upton year? In addition, a guy with 4 years big league experience is often past the potential stage and showing something. Upton is still a question mark. The guy has had over 2500 ABs in the Big Leagues.

1st, WAR is an incredibly flawed stat for single seasons – It doesn’t measure defense accurately.

2. Justin Upton played the majority of the season with a thumb injury, so his 2012 stats are misleading:

http://arizona.sbnation.com/arizona-diamondbacks/2012/10/4/3454796/justin-upton-injury-arizona-diamondbacks

3. Upton was 24 last year. There are many players his age that are rookies, and there are many players his age who have yet to have a lot of success. in the MLB. So, think of it this way: Upton is already a two time all star, a sliver slugger, and finished top 5 in the MVP voting at an age when a lot of players are still struggling to have even moderate success in the majors. So, in other words, he’s a stud.

4. He has tremendous potential – He was a 1st overall pick, and a #2 rated prospect in all of baseball for a reason. He has 30+ HR and 20+ SB base potential, and he’s a guy who you can build your team around for years. I don’t think you can say that about Prado can you?

Basically, Prado is a nice complimentary piece, while Upton is a superstar talent that you can build your team around. So, I’d say that the Braves upgraded.

It isnt the Braves or the Mets because they are following the exact same path. Draft and sign young players, develop them, develop a core at the ML level, and fill in around the. The difference is the Braves have been doing this for 25 years and the Mets for about 2 minutes.

Of course, if the Mets didnt follow the “we are a big market lets spend because we are in a particular zip code” model and actually developed some top flight talent, perhaps the organization would be contending now. But Wilpon is guys who utilizes the philosophy the core espouses with terrible results.

* The Upton brothers provide a power upgrade over the men they replace in the Atlanta outfield, Martin Prado and Michael Bourn, but besides home runs, the jump isn’t substantial.

* Martin Prado ranked 10th in the NL in WAR last season (5.4), providing more than twice Upton’s value (2.1). Prado has accumulated 12.1 wins above replacement since 2010. In that span, Upton has 9.2 wins above replacement.

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/60169/espn-stats-analyzes-braves-dbacks-swap

It seems contrary to the opinion of some around here, the Braves moves for the Uptons brothers isnt as much of an upgrade as they would like to believe.

I have been pretty vocal about not wanting to bring him here, but that whole thing just contradicts itself.

The Diamondbacks want a certain type of player — single-minded, outwardly intense, fierce. Cody Ross is that kind of player. Martin Prado is that kind of player. Upton is not, at least not in the estimation of Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson.

“The problem is that he didn’t play with a high level of energy,” said one of Upton’s former teammates who spoke on the condition that he would not be identified. “What I think they want is guys who play with the speed, energy and intensity of the Oregon football team — all out, all the time.

“Justin doesn’t have that kind of attitude; he has a quiet intensity that doesn’t fit the mold of what KT and Gibby seem to want. He plays hard but has to look suave doing it. Slamming into walls isn’t his thing, and they will accept nothing short of all-out sacrifice for the team.”

No one questions Upton’s work ethic, but in the words of one rival executive, “He is not a leader, not an all-out hustle type.”

So the question is, how much better than in 2012 will Upton perform in 2013 and beyond ? And keep in mind that the Braves have rarely had a payroll of over 100 to 110 million $ ( if ever). The Upton will make 30 million $ combined in 2014 and 2015 alone. McCann is a free agent after 2013. Heyward & Kimbrel will be arb eligible a year from now and become very expensive very quickly. Add in Uggla, Hudson ( or whoever replaces him in the rotation) and the Braves won’t have a lot of room to add payroll over the next couple of years.

Are they a better team for 2013 – 2015 today than they were yesterday ? Absolutely. However, it’s not as if they just replaced Mike Baxter with Mike Trout. The Mets have enough issues themselves to worry about the Braves or Nats.