Padres continue to retool with Upton, Myers trades
Upton, who will make $14.5 million in 2015, will be a free agent after the season.
SAN DIEGO (AFP) - The new-look San Diego Padres continued to revamp their Major League Baseball lineup Friday by acquiring all-star outfielder Justin Upton from the Atlanta Braves.
Upton heads to Southern California along with minor league pitcher Aaron Northcraft. The Braves get a package of four prospects in return.
San Diego sent pitcher Max Fried, the team s first-round pick in the 2012 draft, to Atlanta along with infielders Dustin Peterson and Jace Peterson and outfielder Mallex Smith.
Upton, who drove in a career-best 102 runs while hitting 29 homers and batting .270 last season, joins fellow new acquisitions Matt Kemp and Wil Myers in San Diego s overhauled outfield.
Kemp was officially obtained from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, with former AL rookie of the year Myers coming over from Tampa Bay as part of a three-team, 11-player swap that was also finalized earlier Friday.
Padres first-year general manager A.J. Preller pulled off another trade for a hitter on Thursday, landing catcher Derek Norris from Oakland for young pitchers Jesse Hahn and R.J. Alvarez.
The first overall pick in the 2005 draft, Upton spent his first half dozen major league seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks before being dealt to Atlanta -- where he played alongside his brother, B.J. --- prior to the start of the 2013 season.
Upton, who will make $14.5 million in 2015, will be a free agent after the season.
San Diego got outfielder Myers from the Tampa Bay Rays as part of the 11-player trade that also involved the Washington Nationals.
The Padres picked up the 24-year-old Myers along with catcher Ryan Hanigan and minor league pitchers Gerardo Reyes and Jose Castillo from the Rays.
Tampa Bay received catcher Rene Rivera, minor league first baseman Jake Bauers and pitcher Burch Smith from the Padres, as well as outfielder Steven Souza and pitcher Travis Ott from Washington. The Nationals will pick up pitcher Joe Ross and a player to be named later.
Myers, the 2013 American League Rookie of the Year, is the centerpiece of the trade.
