Giants sign Melvin Upton Jr. to minor league deal

Melvin Upton Jr. joins his fifth team in his 10th major league season, inking a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants.

After being released by the Toronto Blue Jays just before opening day, the San Francisco Giants have decided to sign Melvin Upton Jr. to a minor league deal.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand has reported that Upton will report to the Giants’ Triple-A team in Sacramento.

Upton, 32, spent time with the Padres and Blue Jays in 2016. After a disappointing 2016 season that resulted in a .238 average, 20 home run, and 61 RBI season, Upton wasn’t able to make Toronto’s opening day roster. Interestingly enough, Upton will still earn $16.45 million in 2016 in the final year of a mega five-year, $72 million deal he signed with the Braves back in 2012. The Padres will be paying most of that freight in 2016.

For the Giants, the move to bring in Upton makes a lot of sense. To start the 2017 season, Giants left fielders on the year have started out 0-20 thus far. Starting left fielder Jarrett Parker started his 2017 season by going 0-10, including six strikeouts.

San Francisco also has Mac Williamson on the DL suffering a quad injury. Michael Morse, who could play left field in a pinch, is also dealing with injuries at the moment. It remains to be seen if or when Upton gets a crack with the big league club as the team also signed Drew Stubbs to a minor league deal earlier this week. It appears the Giants decided to sign Upton over free agent Angel Pagan, who played in San Francisco from 2012-16.

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Melvin Upton Jr. might have been able to land a major league contract if he was willing to wait. He may have been a fit in Detroit, which would have given him the chance to play with his brother Justin Upton again. As of now, it is unclear whether a major league opt-out date is in his Giants contract.