Justin Upton Signs 6-year, $132.75MM Deal with Tigers

[P2F]

Discuss.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/01/18/justin-upton-detroit-tigers-agree-six-year-deal/78981736/

[Boxcar]

Nice deal for the Tigers, I think.

[Laika]

Surprised he only got 6 years. Should have gotten more than / at least as much total $ as Chris Davis.

 

Not surprised to see the Tigers sneak up on one of the big OF bats.

[Muck Bartinez]

The Tigers will be pretty good for maybe 2 years, and then unfathomably terrible from 2018 onward. Ilitch is quite literally yoloing like no one has yoloed before.

 

Theyre going to be paying Cabrera, Zimmermann, Verlander, V-Mart, and now Upton over 100M per year for decline years. I can see why Dombrowski wanted to GTFO.

 

Edit: Also Anibal Sanchez is making 16M.

[Swervin81]

Mike Ilitch is really taking this YOLO thing too far.

 

I can see them being a good team (they have the 2nd best lineup next to us IMO), and their rotation could be solid if Norris develops and Verlander (HUGE wildcard) goes well.

[Boxcar]

The Tigers will be pretty good for maybe 2 years, and then unfathomably terrible from 2018 onward. Ilitch is quite literally yoloing like no one has yoloed before.

 

Theyre going to be paying Cabrera, Zimmermann, Verlander, V-Mart, and now Upton over 100M per year for decline years. I can see why Dombrowski wanted to GTFO.

 

Edit: Also Anibal Sanchez is making 16M.

 

I'm pretty sure I'd rank this behind Bernie Madoff's YOLO.

[TheHurl]

It wouldn't surprise me if Detroit wins the Central next year...it also wouldn't surprise me if they are dead last.

[HERPDERP]

It wouldn't surprise me if Detroit wins the Central next year...it also wouldn't surprise me if they are dead last.

 

White Sox are terribad

[Laika]

White Sox are terribad

 

Not really. It's just a high variance roster. As many holes as there are star players.

[TilsonBritoFan]

I guessed 6 years, $135 million. Pretty good.

 

But orgfiller, frenchsoup and nafro guessed 6 years, 132 million. Bang on!

[TheHurl]

Not really. It's just a high variance roster. As many holes as there are star players.

 

I view them as a team that is badly in need of a smart front office. Bringing in AJax or Fowler would make a lot of sense. I can see them bringing in a platoon option instead of just replacing Garcia. I'd hate to see what their options are if they have an injury or two in their top 3 SP's.

[GD]

real nice deal for detroit

[Angrioter]

Upton over Céspedes is a no brainer

[Laika]

I view them as a team that is badly in need of a smart front office. Bringing in AJax or Fowler would make a lot of sense. I can see them bringing in a platoon option instead of just replacing Garcia. I'd hate to see what their options are if they have an injury or two in their top 3 SP's.

 

Yes, if they could get some economic upgrades on a few of their black holes and add some depth to make their team more robust then they would be fine. I don't really think it's a tall task.

 

I mean their core is as good as a lot of competitive teams.

Sale-Quintana-Rodon;

Frazier-Abrea-Eaton (and Lawrie-Avila/Navarro-Melky can contribute);

Robertson-Jones-Duke-Putnam-Petricka.

 

No excuse for a team like the White Sox to let an arm like Bud Norris go to Atlanta for $2.5M.

 

Actually, Steve Pearce would be a superb target for them.

[saskjayfan]

real nice deal for detroit

 

real nice to be able to spend 189 mil a season. Imagine where the Jays would be if they could add 60 mil to payroll.

[Cyborg]

Yes, if they could get some economic upgrades on a few of their black holes and add some depth to make their team more robust then they would be fine. I don't really think it's a tall task.

 

I mean their core is as good as a lot of competitive teams.

Sale-Quintana-Rodon;

Frazier-Abrea-Eaton (and Lawrie-Avila/Navarro-Melky can contribute);

Robertson-Jones-Duke-Putnam-Petricka.

 

No excuse for a team like the White Sox to let an arm like Bud Norris go to Atlanta for $2.5M.

 

Actually, Steve Pearce would be a superb target for them.

How about we get Steve Pearce and Trade CC20rake for whatever we can. Pearce plays second base while Travis is out so we never see Goins starting at 2B, then he plays some 1B and some LF with Saunders.

[Laika]

How about we get Steve Pearce and Trade CC20rake for whatever we can. Pearce plays second base while Travis is out so we never see Goins starting at 2B, then he plays some 1B and some LF with Saunders.

 

CC20 for Erik Johnson

 

Sox sign Fister and the good guys sign STEVE PEARCE

[DerangedIdoit]

There were reports that Mike Ilitch wanted to go for it while he was still alive (so pretty much this year). There were reports that the Tigers were looking for another OF/superstar. Al Avila said he wasn't looking for more high priced free agents. If he was he wouldn't confirm anyways. Not a total surprise as far as I am concerned

[DerangedIdoit]

How about we get Steve Pearce and Trade CC20rake for whatever we can. Pearce plays second base while Travis is out so we never see Goins starting at 2B, then he plays some 1B and some LF with Saunders.

 

CC is fetching nothing sorry to say.

[Key22]

I don't know if it's right or not but I kind of wish the Jays were run by a single wealthy owner like Ilitch - just because it's more exciting when you have an owner who says screw the budget or common sense - let's just spend a ton and get the guy.

 

If Illitch was this team's owner for example where we are as a team offensively we'd probably have David Price, Zimmerman as our number two with Stroman third, Upton in Left field and a payroll over $200 million. These kinds of owners don't care too much if the team itself turns a profit.

 

We seriously need a Canadian multi-billionaire who is a huge fan of baseball and the Toronto Blue Jays to buy the team from Rogers. I'm not anti-Rogers on this stuff - I mean they spend pretty big and everything considering the dollar - but it's always going to be a number crunching game with them and they will never make a decision to put the team over the top quality wise over the bottom line. An individual owner will make the sacrifice.

[Spanky99]

I don't know if it's right or not but I kind of wish the Jays were run by a single wealthy owner like Ilitch - just because it's more exciting when you have an owner who says screw the budget or common sense - let's just spend a ton and get the guy.

 

If Illitch was this team's owner for example where we are as a team offensively we'd probably have David Price, Zimmerman as our number two with Stroman third, Upton in Left field and a payroll over $200 million. These kinds of owners don't care too much if the team itself turns a profit.

 

We seriously need a Canadian multi-billionaire who is a huge fan of baseball and the Toronto Blue Jays to buy the team from Rogers. I'm not anti-Rogers on this stuff - I mean they spend pretty big and everything considering the dollar - but it's always going to be a number crunching game with them and they will never make a decision to put the team over the top quality wise over the bottom line. An individual owner will make the sacrifice.

 

Like Labatt's...

 

They spent when it was time, highest payroll in the League.

[Stangstag]

Guys don't worry, I'm working on becoming rich. It'll happen.

[z3r0s]

Great deal for the Tigers. If I was Shapiro I would have been begging Rogers to get some extra money for this year to sign this guy. Would make it soooo much easier to let JB and EE go next year and obviously improves our LF situation immensely.

 

A core of Donaldson, Upton, and Tulo would have been fine. Our offense would have been epic for 1 year with Upton.

 

LF- Upton

3B- Donaldson

RF- Bautista

DH- Encarnacion

SS- Tulowitzki

1B- Smoak/Cola

C - Martin

2B- Travis (Goins)

CF- Pillar

 

That would have been amazing.

[Brownie19]

I must be the only one who doesn't think Upton is worth it. Don't get me wrong, he's a nice player, but he isn't the type of 'core' player I'd be handing a long term contract to, nor would I want him eating up 10%+ of our budget. He's a high strikeout guy who doesn't bring much defense to the table. He isn't a 'great' bat either, averaging a wRC+ of 123 over the past 4 years. For me, a lot of his value is tied to his durability and good base running (which we should assume would decline over the 2nd half of this contract).

 

He reminds me of a Carmelo Anthony in the NBA. Nice player, puts up the numbers, but you'll never win when he's one of your core guys eating up a lot of your budget (sorry, can't think of another good comp off the top of my head....maybe Cespedes, which is kind of ironic.

[Stangstag]

I must be the only one who doesn't think Upton is worth it. Don't get me wrong, he's a nice player, but he isn't the type of 'core' player I'd be handing a long term contract to, nor would I want him eating up 10%+ of our budget. He's a high strikeout guy who doesn't bring much defense to the table. He isn't a 'great' bat either, averaging a wRC+ of 123 over the past 4 years. For me, a lot of his value is tied to his durability and good base running (which we should assume would decline over the 2nd half of this contract).

 

He reminds me of a Carmelo Anthony in the NBA. Nice player, puts up the numbers, but you'll never win when he's one of your core guys eating up a lot of your budget (sorry, can't think of another good comp off the top of my head....maybe Cespedes, which is kind of ironic.

 

Uhhhhh

[Laika]

Yeah Upton is comfortably above average but his deficiencies keep him from being a real star.

 

If Toronto bought him to replace the Saunders / Pompey time share in LF, that would probably be a ~1.5 win upgrade. Not exactly the impact you want for this type of investment.

[HERPDERP]

not sure why Upton was complete s*** against lefties last year

[Laika]

not sure why Upton was complete s*** against lefties last year

 

because only idiots look at splits for one season

 

are you an idiot?

[Muck Bartinez]

Yeah Upton is comfortably above average but his deficiencies keep him from being a real star.

 

If Toronto bought him to replace the Saunders / Pompey time share in LF, that would probably be a ~1.5 win upgrade. Not exactly the impact you want for this type of investment.

 

Definitely not the way you'd want to spend your remaining budget (or blow past it) for this team. Makes more sense for DET since they're upgrading from an unplatooned Maybin or Gose.

 

This will look interesting in 2018 though:

 

Cabrera - 34 years old - 30M

Verlander - 34 - 28M

Zimm - 31 - 24M

Upton - 30 - ~22M (avg of 132 over 6)

V-Mart - 39 - 18M

Fielder - 6M

 

Club options (probably picked up?)

 

Kinsler - 35 - 10M

Sanchez - 33 - 16M

 

That's 154M for 7 guys over 30 (or 128M for 5 if options are declined), with no extension for JD Martinez. That's gonna get ugly in a hurry.

[Brownie19]

Uhhhhh

 

I guess 'great' is subjective and in retrospect, a wRC+ of 123 was 38th best in baseball last year (for qualified hitter), which isn't too shabby. That said - Logan Forsyth, Lucas Duda, and Kendrys Morales all finished with a higher wRC+ and I don't consider any of them to be 'great' hitters. I guess suggesting he's a "23% above average hitter" would be most accurate. Regardless - not something I'd lock up long term and make a core player, especially when you consider he's playing a below average LF.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Brownie19