As we continue to wait for Bryce Harper and Manny Machado to sign, here’s what passes as hot stove news.
Free-agent outfielder Melvin Upton Jr., who was known as B.J. Upton during his first 10 MLB seasons, wants to go by B.J. again.
Upton’s father, Melvin Emanuel Upton Sr., goes by Manny but is nicknamed Bossman, so B.J. stands Bossman Junior. But the younger Upton decided before the 2015 season that he didn’t want to be B.J. anymore.
“Nobody really calls me B.J., except at the stadium,” Upton told reporters, explaining that his friends mostly call him Melvin or Mel.