The kid is such a beast. I love watching him play.

He's the real deal. The way the pundits are touting him is almost as if he's a 100% guaranteed star.

I love his swing. He is so quiet at the plate before his bat just slashes through the zone.

Justin Upton makes me smile. As Robert said, he's so quiet at the plate and then he just explodes. His home runs are not towering moonshots but stingers to basically any part of the ball park. And he really seems to be learning and making adjustments from one at bat to another.

What he needs is just a bit more patience and selectivity at the plate, especially with runners on. Today was a good example: he came up with bases loaded and just went after pitches high out of the strike zone. He's old enough to know what's right but young enough not to choose it.

Not bad for someone who was ranked 29th overall prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus a year ago.

Who has looked more impressive so far, Upton or Chris Young?

Depends on what you are looking for. Young is more advanced in his approach right now. He is seeing the ball well, and having good at bats, laying off a lot of touch pitches. He has 7 walks already. Upton is definitely in a more raw stage of his development, as you would expect. But his homers are laser shots. They are getting out in a hurry. His wider stance seems to be keeping him quieter as others have noted.

Speaking of Chris Young:

Nick Piecoro: Young, D-Backs close to deal

The Diamondbacks and center fielder Chris Young appear to be closing in on a long-term contract, and an announcement on the deal could come sometime early this week.

Details of the agreement are not known but it is believed to be close to, but short of, the six-year, $30 million deal the Colorado Rockies gave shortstop Troy Tulowitzki earlier this year.

Justin Upton - first ballot HOF in 2032?

I have both on my fantasy team this year, and am really hating the 3-year limit we have on keepers. That said, it's the first week, and Upton will likely have his struggles this year. Young's numbers last year were pretty much what B-Pro had projected for him minus the walks. If he gets those back this year, he'll be OK hitting .250. Wondering if you guys think he should be hitting leadoff or they'd be better off with him lower in the order?

Wondering if you guys think he should be hitting leadoff or they'd be better off with him lower in the order?

If I took over for Bob Melvin tomorrow:

LF Byrnes
2B Hudson
1B Jackson
CF Young
RF Upton
SS Drew
3B Reynolds
C Snyder
Pitcher

Actually, Hudson should be leading off. He has very good OBP, and he is adept at fouling off pitches and staying in an at bat.

If I were making the lineup, and didn't need to take people's feelings or ego into account, it would probably look like this:

Hudson
Jackson
Reynolds
Young
Byrnes
Drew
Snyder
Pitcher
Upton

But they are not playing Strat-O-matic, and it really doesn't matter all that much. Young has had more success batting leadoff than anyone else, and Hudson whines when asked to leadoff.....so screw it. Whatever Melvin does is fine.

According to a poster in the comments after Nick's article, Young's contract will be for 6 years and $28.5m.

What he needs is just a bit more patience and selectivity at the plate, especially with runners on. Today was a good example: he came up with bases loaded and just went after pitches high out of the strike zone. He's old enough to know what's right but young enough not to choose it.

Are you saying he's got a problem with his power with weapons on patrol? That he's got to walk a fine line to keep his self control?

He's old enough to know what's right but young enough not to choose it.

Someone's spent too much time in Toronto, methinks . . . .

Upton's public image will take a huge hit if his contempt for gypsies ever becomes public. Oops.

You mean his contempt for gypsum. I have never been to Toronto, actually. Been to Montreal a few times, three times to Mt. Tremblant, once to Quebec (the city).

Just a Rush/Keith Law joke, 1k5v3L. Not really even that, I guess, just a suggestion of the possibility of such a joke.

Justin Upton - first ballot HOF in 2032?

I don't think the voters will go for someone who chose to take performance enhancing nanobots.

He's old enough to know what's right but young enough not to choose it.

It isn't a matter of choosing, it's a matter of discipline and that, should, come with age.

Ah. Got the Rush-Toronot link (duh) but didn't think of the Keith Law/Toronto connection. Well played, sir.

The line-up really doesn't make any sense at all. Why does Hudson whine when he's at 1 or 2? Why is it that people who the announcers and writers wax poetic about, droning on and on about their leadership and veteran presence, seem to be somewhat different in reality. So, Melvin bats Hudson third because moving Hudson up in the order (good for the team) would be bad for Hudson (according to Hudson...)? Yuck. The series in Colorado was called by the home squad on MLBTV, and they mentioned several times how much of an RBI man Hudson was. Did I miss something? Hudson's never topped 15 homers of 67 RBIs at any level in his career... Unless he catches Jay Bell fever out there in the desert, I'm not seeing it. I think shoewizard's got a good lineup, though I would swap Reynolds and Young to get Young more PAs...

Hudson
Jackson
Reynolds
Young
Byrnes
Drew
Snyder
Pitcher
Upton

As someone who's likely to have moderate power and not much OBP, Upton seems like the wrong guy to bat 9th behind the pitcher.

Steve Gilbert with confirmation of Young's deal

The contract is believed to be close to the one signed recently by Rockies shortstop Troy Tuluwitzki, which was for six years and $30 million.

The deal would keep [Chris] Young in a D-backs uniform through 2013 and would cover all his arbitration years in addition to his first year of free agency.

Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

According to Baseball Musings Lineup Tool, here is the best D Backs lineup:

Jackson
Byrnes
Drew
Young
Hudson
Reynolds
Upton
Pitchers
Snyder

Link

As if that will ever happen.

The 4th best lineup, and closest one to what I proposed was

Hudson
Jackson
Drew
Young
Byrnes
Reynolds
Upton
Pitchers
Snyder

That lineup is one that could actually "fly" in the clubhouse and there is no statisically significant difference between these two lineups

(4.917 vs. 4.915)

I've been preaching Hudson 1 and Jackson 2 for a long long long time. But the guys that make out the lineup card don't listen to me. :(

According to Baseball Musings Lineup Tool, here is the best D Backs lineup:

Jackson
Byrnes
Drew
Young
Hudson
Reynolds
Upton
Pitchers
Snyder

Funny, shoe. . . after reading #10, I was going to mention my personal preference of Conor Jack for the leadoff slot. Of course, this is coming from a guy who batted Dave Magadan or some such non-speed-burner OBP-god at leadoff in Strat. Additionally, you properly (IMO) disclaim the collateral issues that go into lineup construction - something with which we Strat players (and/or armchair managers) never had/have to deal.