The Braves are considering trying first baseman Matt Adams at another position when Freddie Freeman returns from the DL and reclaims his position. That could mean a move to the outfield , manager Brian Snitker said Tuesday, and that would mean trading Matt Kemp or Nick Markakis to make room.
If the Braves want to move Adams to another position to keep him in the lineup, the corner outfield positions are the most logical options. There are several versions of the Sabermetrics "defensive spectrum" floating around but, in general, the difficulty of playing each position from easiest to hardest is: 1B-LF-RF_CF-3B-2B-SS-C.
That matches up pretty well with conventional wisdom. If the Braves move Adams to left or right field he would go from the easiest defensive position to the second-easiest. The Braves have a hole at third base but that position is not as easy as some Braves backers seem to believe.
So moving Adams to the outfield makes the most logical sense if the goal is to keep him in the lineup. But I have my doubts if it’s the best move for the Braves, for two reasons.
For one, the Cardinals already tried Adams in the outfield and the results . . . well, you can click and see some of the video evidence for yourself. (H/T FanGraphs.)
Yet Adams' questionable ability to play the outfield is not the biggest source of my skepticism about the Braves moving him there. Rather, I'm wondering: Is Adams really such a good offensive player that the Braves absolutely must move him to a different position to keep him in the lineup or, more radically, move Freeman to third base?
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I understand why many Braves fans believe that the team should do what it must to keep Adams playing every day. He’s been on an offensive tear since coming to Atlanta. He’s 28-years old and under contractual control through 2018.
But Adams' 122 plate appearances with the Braves before Tuesday is a tiny sample size. Over his career Adams has posted a 113 wRC+, which is a bit above average (and about the same as Markakis' 110 wRC+ for his career). That includes Adams' torrid 136 wRC+ pace this season, which FanGraphs projects will end up at 108 wRC+.
Also remember that Adams' career production has come mostly as a platoon player. He has just 306 career plate appearances against lefties with a .612 OPS and 64 wRC+. Snitker says he heard from baseball friends that Adams "will hit lefties if you let him do it" and maybe that turns out to be the case but there's scant evidence of it.
So if the Braves trade one of their outfielders to make room for Adams in the outfield, they would be doing all of that to keep a (maybe) slightly-above average everyday hitter in the lineup. They would be moving Adams to a position he’s hardly played and didn’t look good the few times he did, thus sacrificing some defense for (maybe) slightly-above average offense.
I don’t believe Adams is such a good hitter that the Braves absolutely must find a way to keep him in the lineup at the expense of defense. I don't think that would be a good option even if they trade Kemp or Markakis. (A third option, moving Freeman to third base, would be even worse.)
The better choice for the Braves is to trade Adams to a team that can get value from him as a first baseman/DH or, if there is no good deal to be found, keep him as a bench player.
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