O's met with Justin Upton's Agency (Reynolds Sports--Brother of Harold Reynolds)

[El Gordo]

I agree with the last two points but Jones is absolutely the superior center fielder. Thank goodness Upton wouldn't be playing CF!

In this case I think we need to look at the totality of the "hitting positions". 1B/LF/RF/DH. And a rotation of five players.

1B - Davis ---> Trumbo

LF - revolving door ---> ???

RF - revolving door ---> Upton

DH - Paredes ---> Paredes?

Whether Davis or Upton is signed, the key will be improving those other spots taken up by Parra, Snider, Young, Lough, De Aza, Reimold, you name it.

Jones is a better CF but Upton doesn't play CF, and he has been worth more on defense most of his career. Upton will be paid more than Jones and that is as it should be.

[Roll Tide]

I'm sure this has been posted somewhere ...but I loved reading it!

Per Roch

I've also been asked if the Orioles will turn their attention to Justin Upton. He's already got their attention. They've met with his agent and are making a push to sign

[TheDirtyBird]

Upton and a starter, I'll have a beer to that

[NATTYBO's]

I'm sure this has been posted somewhere ...but I loved reading it!

Per Roch

It's somewhere in one of these threads....just wondering if this is a recent observation or a from when they met at the winter meetings

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[Ruzious]

I'm sure this has been posted somewhere ...but I loved reading it!

Per Roch

Yeah, I'm with Roch. I'm surprised we haven't talked about Upton here more. It's been well known nationally that Upton was going to be an O's target.

[MDtransplant757]

I think Gordon would be leagues above Upton. He would be better than Upton, and we need left handers. If I were DD and PA, I would swallow a little $ and sign him

[Ruzious]

Upton's a much more valuable player at this point in their careers. He's younger, has significantly more power, hits for the same average. Gordon's speed looks like it's already headed downhill, so expect his defense to decline to Upton's level as soon as next season.

[Roll Tide]

I think Gordon would be leagues above Upton. He would be better than Upton, and we need left handers. If I were DD and PA, I would swallow a little $ and sign him

This is just not true in so many ways.....

Lets give it a go anyway ....Upton will play most of this year at 28 (Aug 25th) and Gordon (FEB 10) will be 32 before the season starts. Just considering age Upton still has the 3 peak years left so one might expect some uptick. Gordon has very little upside if any at all.

The contract ...Dierkes predicted 5/105 for Gordon and 7/147 for Upton. While the AAV is the same you'd be getting 3 years of Upton's prime and one less year of the likely decline.

Upton's OPS since 2008 has never been lower than .785 (2012). He's been good for 17-31 Homers the last 5 years and his low over the last three 26HR & .790 OPS was spent playing 1/2 his games in San Diego. He can be counted on to play 150 games per season.

Gordon's OPS has been .749, .783, and .809 the last three years. He hasn't hit above 20 home runs since 2011. Upton does K around 20ish times more per season.

So really ..stats wise they are pretty comparable. Age wise, forward potential favor Upton. Gordon missed 50 games this year with a strained groin. Groin injuries has a pretty high rate of recurrence, so that has to be a concern as well.

[Roll Tide]

It's somewhere in one of these threads....just wondering if this is a recent observation or a from when they met at the winter meetings

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It is from Roch's blog yesterday .... It has been my observation that Roch usually tempers expectations. He could've replied to the same question by saying that the Orioles spoke to Upton's agent at the meetings and ended there.

Saying that Upton has their attention and are making a push insinuates that they are currently negotiating.

Another observation is that it is located in the bottom of the afternoon blog about O'Day

[Bahama O's Fan]

I agree with the last two points but Jones is absolutely the superior center fielder. Thank goodness Upton wouldn't be playing CF!

In this case I think we need to look at the totality of the "hitting positions". 1B/LF/RF/DH. And a rotation of five players.

1B - Davis ---> Trumbo

LF - revolving door ---> ???

RF - revolving door ---> Upton

DH - Paredes ---> Paredes?

Whether Davis or Upton is signed, the key will be improving those other spots taken up by Parra, Snider, Young, Lough, De Aza, Reimold, you name it.

I think we end up seeing Wieters at DH quite a bit this season.

[JayThomas]

I think we end up seeing Wieters at DH quite a bit this season.

Gracious I hope not. His bat is not likely to play well there.

[24fps]

Gracious I hope not. His bat is not likely to play well there.

According to DD MW is a "qualified major league hitter from both sides of the plate". That certainly answers all my doubts.

Yes I'm being sarcastic, but you're not going to see a guy get $15.8 million and not play. Especially after DD and Buck have gone on record multiple times about how glad they are that he accepted the QO and is back with the team.

They'll also find AB's and time behind the plate for Caleb (the more the better IMO), so I think we'll see a lot of MW at DH.

[25 Nuggets]

According to DD MW is a "qualified major league hitter from both sides of the plate". That certainly answers all my doubts.

Yes I'm being sarcastic, but you're not going to see a guy get $15.8 million and not play. Especially after DD and Buck have gone on record multiple times about how glad they are that he accepted the QO and is back with the team.

They'll also find AB's and time behind the plate for Caleb (the more the better IMO), so I think we'll see a lot of MW at DH.

That's fine by me really, they can sit Paredes vs LHP and have Wieters DH with Joseph catching.

That's kind of why I'm not so hot on Pedro Alvarez, I don't think he's enough of an upgrade over Paredes vs RHP to warrant the salary difference. Would rather find someone who plays OF.

[UpstateNYfan]

According to DD MW is a "qualified major league hitter from both sides of the plate". That certainly answers all my doubts.

Yes I'm being sarcastic, but you're not going to see a guy get $15.8 million and not play. Especially after DD and Buck have gone on record multiple times about how glad they are that he accepted the QO and is back with the team.

They'll also find AB's and time behind the plate for Caleb (the more the better IMO), so I think we'll see a lot of MW at DH.

I never quite understand the logic in this. Do you intentionally put out a lesser line up because you must play the higher salaried player? So, salary determines playing time, not performance.

[justice98]

So what if he is right handed his splits are identical vs LHP and RHP. Over .800 OPS from both.

He is an above average left fielder, what are you talking about???

There's seems to be a split opinion on this. On Wall to Wall on MASN, they went outta their way to point out he wasn't a good defender. And bringing him in would be good at the plate, but you'd suffer with defense.

And actually just looking into it myself, he not really known as a good defender, by the metrics or eye test. I think when he started he had a good rep, but he's regressed in that area over the years.