The last day of August has brought the biggest move of the month. With the
Derek Roy Jersey waiver trade deadline just hours away, the Angels acquired All-Star leftfielder Justin Upton from the Tigers for minor league pitcher Grayson Long and a player to be named later, according to both teams (and first reported by MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal). Amid one of the best seasons of his 11-year career, the 30-year-old Upton represents a major push on the part of Los Angeles to claim a wild-card spot and its first trip to the postseason since 2014.
Upton has quietly mashed this season in the middle of Detroit’s sagging lineup, leading the team in home
http://www.authenticsabresprostore.com/authentic-77-dmitry-kulikov-jersey.html runs (28), RBIs (94), on-base percentage (.362), slugging percentage (.542) and OPS+ (136). His team-best 5.0 WAR, meanwhile, is more than double that of second-place Jose Iglesias (though the fact that Iglesias is No. 2 on the Tigers in that stat says a lot about how poorly their season has gone). Offensively, it’s been Upton’s best showing since his final season in Atlanta in 2014, and overall, it’s the most value he’s produced since his second All-Star campaign in Arizona back in ’11.
Despite Upton’s strong year, it’s been a dismal one in Detroit, owing to an aging lineup that can’t hit and a rotation that has no depth beyond Michael Fulmer and Justin Verlander. The Tigers already waved the white flag on the
Authentic Brandon Brooks Womens Jersey season back in July, dealing away rightfielder J.D. Martinez (to the Diamondbacks) and closer Justin Wilson (to the Cubs), but were seemingly content to stop there, holding onto Verlander, Upton and others. It’s likely that money played a big role in that: Signed to a six-year, $132 million deal back in 2016, Upton still has $88.5 million left on that contract, limiting his market.
The Angels, however, were willing to take the plunge because of the gigantic boost he provides to the middle of the lineup. Aside from the god-made-flesh that is Mike Trout and Gold Glover-turned-Silver Slugger Andrelton Simmons, Los Angeles’ lineup is littered
http://www.nikeeaglesjerseysshop.com/alshon-jeffery-jersey-for-sale-c-60.html with holes. Albert Pujols can still run into a fastball, but the 37-year-old is a shadow of his former self, with a meager 78 OPS+ on the year. First baseman C.J. Cron, meanwhile, offers a league-average bat and not much else.
Upton will also be a significant upgrade in leftfield, long a problem spot for Los Angeles. Angels leftfielders—mainly Cameron Maybin (was claimed by Houston off waivers after Upton was acquired) and Ben Revere—have posted a pathetic .656 OPS on the season, the second-worst mark at the position in all of baseball. The six players who have taken a turn in left for Los Angeles this year have combined for only seven home runs. And this is nothing new for the Angels, who have thrown all sorts of flotsam and jetsam into left, only to watch it predictably fail. Since the team dumped
Josh Hamilton after the 2014 season, the Angels have cycled through 22 different players in left and gotten a combined .220/.286/.323 line in that time. Over that same span, Upton has hit .261/.336/.486.
