Maddon moved him from the top to the bottom of the lineup. Upton said it was like a kick in the head; that was the phrase many fans focused on without considering what his point was.

As a matter of fact, if you read the entire quotation and interview, you see that he takes full responsibility for the change and vows to work to EARN back his spot. He said that he was upset with himself for making it necessary for Maddon to move him.

Indeed, later that season, Maddon benched him for a game because he thought Upton was putting too much pressure on himself, was trying too hard. Of course, the non-fact has now become a fact to many and another example to demonstrate their preconceived and entirely erroneous views as your recollection indicates.

As for his performance, he has not been a terrible hitter 2 years running, although he has been disappointing given expectations. He showed some return of power in 2010 and other signs that he is improving. According to fangraphs, in 2010 his wOBA was .337 which is not great but not bad either. His wRC+ was 114 and his WAR was 3.4. This is in spite of the fact of his poor performance vs. righties about which you are correct.

By market standards, a 3.4 WAR garners wages in excess of $8 million. And incidentally, unlike in 2009, his WAR in 2010 was not primarily due to superior defense.BB-Reference has his 2010 WAR even higher (4.3) with most of it due to his offense also.

2. “…better than ill-informed opinion has it.” – I don’t know, he’s been a pretty terrible hitter two years running. Look at his splits vs. righties.

3. You think a 745 OPS and 40+ SBs from a very good-but-not-great CF is worth $9.6 million?

1. He is one of the hardest workers on the team, entirely dedicated to improving his performance.

2. He has always accepted full responsibility for his mistakes and has never complained about
being penalized for them.

3. Such mistakes have been rare, if overly hyped, and do not define his character at all.

4. He is very popular in the clubhouse and very cooperative, willing to accept any role the
manager asks him to play.

It is only some fans, probably egged on by talk radio, who think their memories are accurate and then exaggerate the errors in their memories, who accuse him of laziness, indifference and lack of respect for the game.

Upton has not fulfilled expectations, although he has also generally been better than ill-informed opinion has it. He is worth more than his new contract gives him, probably based on market pricing about double.