B.J. Upton parts ways with Braves

B.J. Upton has played his final game with the Atlanta Braves after two frustrating seasons.

The man formerly known as B.J. Upton will spend the next season going by Melvin Upton Jr.

B.J. Upton will go by the name Melvin Upton Jr. this year. Upton will explain his reasoning when he reports to #Braves camp.

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) February 22, 2015

B.J. was short for Bossman Junior; Bossman was his father's name, and it stuck to the elder Upton somewhere along the way.

This upcoming season will be an interesting one for Melvin. He spent quite a bit of time in Florida over the last few months with GM John Hart and new hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, and all reports indicated things went well. Then again, have you ever read an offseason article saying, "Player A looked like dog shit while getting extra reps with New Hitting Coach B" while working out in his mansion? I don't think so.

The Braves are hoping for anything out of their $75 million man in 2015. He's basically un-tradeable, and with the club likely to struggle the next year or two, it would be nice for Upton to return to his Tampa Bay form, even if he is no longer a B.J.