Unless they can trade him, Angels will owe the outfielder $28M for the final season of his five-year deal, but the move frees up time for Adell, Ward and Marsh
TEMPE, Ariz. — This time the Angels didn’t even wait a month to cast off a veteran who had lost his grip on a significant role. The Angels designated Justin Upton for assignment Saturday, less than a week before Opening Day. The Angels could still to try to trade Upton, but most likely he will become a free agent, and the Angels will be on the hook for almost all of his $28 million salary this season, the final year of his five-year contract. If Upton finds a new team after reaching free agency, his new team will pay him the major-league minimum salary of $700,000, and the Angels would pay the rest. In May, the Angels made a similar move with Albert Pujols. At that time, they said that move was more about making sure there was playing time for Jared Walsh at first and Shohei Ohtani at DH. This time, general manager Perry Minasian said the Upton move was mostly a reflection on their confidence in young outfielders Jo Adell,22, and Brandon Marsh,24. Both will see significant playing time in the corner outfield spots, along with Taylor Ward,28, while Mike Trout will play center. Minasian gave Upton the news Saturday morning, and Upton left the ballpark before the media had arrived. Asked how he handled the news, Minasian said Upton was “an absolute pro.” Presumably the Angels already tried to trade Upton before reaching this point. Upton has a no-trade clause, so that could have complicated a potential deal. “Really tough decision,” Minasian said. “I love Justin as a person. Just looking at the construction of our club, we think Brandon and Jo are ready to go. And we’ll have Taylor in the outfield. We’ll have obviously Trouty in the outfield. And between those four guys, we felt like that was the best group going forward for this particular club.
