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Padres want to lock up Justin Upton long-term

By Evan Massey

San Diego Padres left fielder Justin Upton (10) follows through on a swing against the Seattle Mariners during a spring training baseball game at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
San Diego Padres left fielder Justin Upton (10) follows through on a swing against the Seattle Mariners during a spring training baseball game at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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The San Diego Padres acquired Justin Upton from the Atlanta Braves this past offseason, and would like to get him locked up to a long-term contract.

Justin Upton was one of the biggest names that traded teams this past offseason, and the San Diego Padres are very excited to have him. His tenure with the Atlanta Braves was successful, but Atlanta chose to go different ways this offseason and were looking to trade him all offseason long.

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That being said, San Diego was able to give the Braves the type of deal that they were looking for and brought him on board. According to Padres’ GM A.J. Preller, the team would like to keep Upton long-term with a new contract in the near future.

“We made a big trade for him, and when you do something like that, you always hope you can work something out long-term and do something together,” Preller said. “Yeah, I mean, Justin Upton, that’s why we acquired him. You always want guys like that on your team.”

San Diego is obviously very clear on what they want for the future between them and Upton, but he doesn’t exactly share the same feelings about getting a deal done as soon as possible.

“I haven’t put much thought into it,” Preller told MLB.com. “This is a big season for me, a big season for this ballclub. We have a chance to win. So I’m not worried about that. We’ll figure it out later.”

During the 2014 season with the Braves, Upton ended up cranking 29 home runs out of the park and recorded a .270 batting average to go along with 102 RBI’s. They are obviously big numbers for the Padres to have acquired, and they are very excited to see if he can replicate them this season. Upton has the potential to be even better this year than he was last, but it’ll take a lot of hard work and focus throughout the season.

At just 27 years old, it would be wise for the Padres to do everything in their power to get a new deal done with Upton. He has a lot of great baseball left to play in his career, and he is the type of bat that a team can depend on in big situations. If he can improve his batting average just a bit, his game would take a huge leap forward.

All of that being said, you can expect to hear more news about the Padres and Upton talking about a new deal as the season progresses.

H/T Padres.com

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