It's true! The Braves supposed Plan B, in the event that B.J. Upton doesn't hit, is pretty hilarious. Joel Sherman:
Upton has hit just .198 with a .593 OPS the past two years combined. The only player in major league history to get at least 1,000 plate appearances combined and produce equal or worse stats in those two categories was Zoilo Versalles in 1967-68 (.198/.522).
Privately, the Braves are saying they will not tolerate more of the same and keep feeding Upton consistent at-bats. In fact, Upton has fallen so far that Atlanta would consider a Plan B that is a platoon between Yankees castoff Zoilo Almonte and Todd Cunningham, whose eight major league at-bats came in 2013.
If nothing else, Upton has accomplished this -- his struggles created a way to get the only two Zoilos ever to play in the majors into the same story.
Well played, Sherman; well played indeed.
Look, the Braves should consider anything. But as Craig notes, the only good thing you can say about Zoilo and Todd is that they're not Bossman Junior. Both project as replacement-level players, at best. Although I suppose if you platoon them, their hitting's a little better than projected. Still, they'd be little or no better than Upton.
So, again, you play them just so you don't have to look at Upton any more. In which there is some value, as emotional anguish can be distracting.
Sherman mentions Kevin Seitzer, the Braves' new hitting coach, as one faint reason for optimism about Upton. But if that doesn't work out fairly quickly, it seems the Braves will just eat around $40 million. As they should.
