Want the Braves to Dump Melvin? Not Gonna Happen

Upton in Cast. Photo Credit: Curtis Compton, AJC.com

For a player who already knows that he’s under the microscope, the season could not have started off worse for the newly re-christened Melvin Upton Jr.  With his left leg now in a cast, he’s not even going to swing a bat again until at least April… and there’s certainly a possibility that he doesn’t return to action before June.

Braves’ fans might be excused, then, for wanting to just cut-and-run on Upton.  Release him and just move on.  We did that with Dan Uggla – just get rid of him and be done with it.  Heck, even we asked the question here that few others have thus far:  Will the Braves be better now without him?

Sorry… it’s just not that easy.  Let’s see why, starting on the next slide.