Knee-Jerk Reactions: The Braves Continue Improving, the DiamondbacksContinue Being Confusing

Justin Upton’s ticket out of Arizona has final been punched, after two years of speculation and one false start to Seattle. But he finally found his way to the Atlanta Braves, joining his older brother B.J. Yes, in one offseason, the Braves have collected the set of Upton Brothers.

Overall, I like this move for the Braves a lot more, although its not necessarily bad for the Diamondbacks. It definitely beats the Chris Young-Cliff Pennington trade, or giving Trevor Bauer away to the Cleveland Indians.

The Braves gave up a significant amount in their package, in Martin Prado, Randall Delgado, Nick Ahmed, Zeke Spruill, and Brandon Drury. But if you’re giving up that much, you should get a player like Justin Upton. Despite his down 2012 year, Upton is still just 25 and showed immense talent in 2011. I think he’d make a great bounce-back candidate, given his injuries last year. On top of that, he’s still under contract for three more seasons at a reasonable rate. If he can get back to his .289/.369/.529 line from 2012 (which, at 25, there’s a large possibility of happening), he’s a steal.