The Rays are slumping.  Inter-league play was dreadful.  They were no hit AGAIN, by a former Ray no less.  When Sunday afternoon rolled around everyone was pretty cranky.  Perhaps BJ was more cranky than others.  His whole family was in town to watch him.  He was constantly being compared to his younger brother, and I’m sure the idiot fans who never have anything nice to say to him let him know who they thought was the better Upton.  He wanted to win the series, but there’s also a good chance he wanted Calgon to take him away.

Some people are frustrated with BJ, others are defending him.  Since I’ve been asked how I feel about “the incident” a lot in last couple of days I’ll give you my take.

If you are a fan of baseball you know that there are several different types of players.  I would classify BJ Upton as a gifted player.  He has talent that other players only dream about having.  He can easily get to balls in the gap.  He can easily steal bases.  His bat speed is another gift.  I’m sure he’s worked on these things since he was a kid, but I still classify him as gifted because regular dudes could work their whole lives and never have these things come easy.

Take Jason Bartlett as a comparison.  He is a really good baseball player, but in order to get where he is he’s had to make sure to do all the right things.  I know some people are down on Jason lately but he is a very smart player.  He puts himself in the right place at the right time.  If anything lets him down it is his athletic ability.

So why hasn’t BJ been able to take it to the next level?  Because the elite players are gifted and smart.  For example the guy who called BJ out on Sunday, Evan Longoria.  Like Barty he’s in it.  He’s smart and has great instincts, but he’s also a gifted athlete.

You can say BJ is lazy or whatever, but I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s just not that baseball smart.  He’s easily above average on ability alone.  The nice thing is, if BJ wants to he can change and become the player we always knew he could be.  I hope he’s with the Rays when he figures it out, because believe me it will be a sight to see.