#5 Most Disliked Braves Player – Dan Uggla
Good ol’ Dan “Struggla”. After terrorizing Braves pitchers as a member of the Florida Marlins for years he decided that maybe the grass was greener on the other side. Dan Uggla signed a 5-year $62 million contract with us at the start of 2011. I’ll admit I was hyped when the Braves signed Dan Uggla. 13-year-old me loved watching him play, hell I even modeled my batting stance in little league after him. Editor’s Note: Maybe that’s why you sucked.
Boy, was it a rough time for Uggla, though. He was in what seemed like a perpetual slump that he couldn’t break out of in his entire 3 and a half seasons with the team. In 2011, his first year, there was at least some optimism. He hit 36 home runs and went on an incredible 33-game hitting streak from July 5 to August 14. The following season, there was not much to be excited about. Uggla’s power production, which was his most significant attribute, fell off a cliff, and he hit an abysmal .220 with just 19 home runs. He did, however, draw walks at a ridiculous rate, and despite his poor hitting, he ended up 3rd in OBP in 2012 among all 2nd basemen. Billy Beane would have loved to have this guy on the Moneyball A’s.
Unfortunately, you don’t pay the kind of money that Uggla was being paid to a guy whose best asset is that he walks a lot. Needless to say, Braves fans were getting fed up with the constant liability that Uggla had become at the plate. He ended up just being cut by the Braves in the middle of the 2014 season and they took the hit on paying the remaining $19 million of his contract the following year.
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