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Matt Adams |
In May the Atlanta Braves traded for Matt Adams giving up a low level
prospect. Adams is filling in for
Freddie Freeman while he is on the disabled list. All indications were that Adams would be
traded at the deadline once Freeman was available to return. Adams has outperformed his past numbers
putting up a .299/.354/.634 stat line in 34 games for the Braves. You couldn’t ask for much more. That said, this team is still not that good
and will celebrate if they can hold on to second place in the division but they
aren’t even looking like a .500 team yet.
I would think they’ll still be in “sell” mode come the trading deadline
adding players who can provide help at need positions.
But there are now rumors that Freddie Freeman may move to third base to
allow Adams to stay in Atlanta and in the starting lineup. This is where I get worried. While Adams’ play is a big surprise, moving
Freddie Freeman to third base seems like a huge risk. He is a stud on a long term contract and the face of the
franchise. Moving him to a position that
is more difficult defensively makes me worry that any struggles he may have in
the field would bleed over to his appearances at the plate. He played the position in high school but
that was some time ago.
Atlanta really needs to think this through. Is Matt Adams really the Braves have seen in
limited time
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Freddie Freeman |
or is he the guy St. Louis traded away due to a .271/.315/.453
stat line while striking out every 4.3 plate appearances in 486 games with St. Louis? It obviously puts the Braves in a bind. You don’t want to get rid of a guy playing
this well but I think they need to look at the possible consequence. I have nothing against Matt Adams but I’d
rather have Freeman at first and hitting well and use Adams as a nice trade
chip. There are plenty of needs on this
team so there is no reason to keep him if he won’t start. For now I’ll hope he keeps hitting and
Atlanta can find a team needing a 1B or DH come the trade deadline.
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