BJ Upton To Miss Opening Day?

[Maris09]

Agree that its a good idea to be conservative and hold him out from the cold, but how can they accurately say 2+ months ahead of time that he's going miss only the first week of the year? I'll let someone else take the risk with their 3rd round pick.

But they are not saying he's going to miss the 1st week "because after that he will be all healed".

They are saying they'd rather not have him start the year in the cold weather (whether he's ready or not), since they can just wait a week and start him in the dome.

[DaShiz23]

If it is an issue with playing in the cold, does that mean he will be playing in ST? That would be a monstrous difference. Or, is he basically starting his ST one week later than everyone else? Hopefully some more news comes out soon.

[Maris09]

If it is an issue with playing in the cold, does that mean he will be playing in ST? That would be a monstrous difference. Or, is he basically starting his ST one week later than everyone else? Hopefully some more news comes out soon.

The issue is the cold.

ST will be in warm weather. If they were to start the season in TB, it seems like playing right away would not be an issue. But because of the East Coast road trip, they want to hold him back that first week. At least that's what I get from this so far.
Of course things could change, but it seems this announcement was more of a heads up and don't freak out thing.

[jlm53089]

Personally I would not worry at all.
Like some of you said, he will be back for the Home Opener.
This totally precautionary, and understandably Tampa has never rushed people, and they wont do it here.

[KCollins1304]

It's just kinda weird to project him not going on the road when we're still 3 months away. It seems like the kind of decision you would make the last week of spring training, not mid-January.

[Grouperman941]

It's just kinda weird to project him not going on the road when we're still 3 months away. It seems like the kind of decision you would make the last week of spring training, not mid-January.

To me, it seems like fishing for news.

[Maris09]

To me, it seems like fishing for news.

Exactly. That and so people don't get freaked out when we get there.