Matt Adams flew out as a pinch hitter on Tuesday night against the Mets. It’s a role the veteran will fill as the Braves season comes to an end this week as he deals with a hamstring injury.
Acquired in a trade with the Cardinals after an injury to Freddie Freeman’s hand, Adams filled in admirably. When Freeman returned the Braves attempted to keep both players bats in the lineup shifting Freeman to third but that experiment was short lived and Adams again found himself scrambling for at-bats just like he had done in St. Louis.
Had the Braves tried harder they likely would have found a trade partner for Adams who currently sits on the bench with a .274/.319/.524 line adding 20 home runs and 64 RBI across 128 games. For the Braves he has to feel better than the 0.5 WAR that Baseball Reference gives him but one has to wonder what is his role going forward?
The Braves would like to get Ronald Acuna into the lineup in 2018, where or when he enters the outfield mix is going to be something much typing will be done about this winter.
Matt Kemp or Nick Markakis will have to give way to the youngster and the Braves cannot envision themselves paying either player to sit next season. Owed massive contracts the team will likely have to eat some of the remaining money in order to move either and that does not even begin to answer the question of Matt Adams.
The Braves would like to keep Adams around, even if Baseball Reference feels he was just a little bit better than average. Arbitration eligible for the final time Adams line to regular playing time in 2019 rests on his production in 2018. It is hard to envision Adams around on the Braves in 2019 and surely he is tired of being the guy on the bench in a rotation of players.
Adams and Acuna in the outfield flanking Ender Inciarte may be the most desirable outfield combination, it’s also the least likely for all we mentioned above. More likely is that Adams continues to be a part-time player with the Braves or is jettison to another destination for a mid-level prospect.
