The Braves acquired first baseman Matt Adams in a trade with the Cardinals Saturday. Here’s reaction from Adams, reasoning from the teams involved and more:
MATT ADAMS:
"It's tough to go, tough to say goodbye to all my friends here. ... It’s the best thing for my career. I’ll be able to join another great organization and be able to play every day. ... I can’t say enough and thank the Cardinals enough for the opportunities that they gave me and the trust they had in me. It was a great run. I'm just happy to be able to get out there every day and play." (From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
CARDINALS GM JOHN MOZELIAK:
“When you think about them losing Freddie Freeman, obviously they had a need. And when you look at how our roster was constructed, it was really hard for us to get (Adams) plate appearances. And so we really felt it was sort of a ‘win-win’ for everybody to try to do this. It also frees up some opportunities for what we might do. ... I don't think Matt wanted to be already pigeonholed into a pinch hitting role. Yes we had some early successes, but how sustainable is that?"
BRAVES GM JOHN COPPOLELLA:
“He's also played left field. He's a good bat off the bench. He will help us even when (injured) Freddie Freeman comes back to the Braves. ... We hate to trade prospects, but this was something for our players, for our fans. I think our ownership really stepped forward here to take on money and get a really good player. We're trying to win right now."
THE BELLEVILLE (ILLINOIS) NEWS-DEMOCRAT:
“Adams has been squeezed out of playing time with Matt Carpenter at first base. Adams has no other position, although he played six games in left field. That was an experiment the Cardinals tested, but did not like the results.”
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH:
The fact that Stephen Piscotty returned to the Cardinals' active roster was not a surprise Saturday. The fact that first baseman Matt Adams was traded to Atlanta, freeing up that roster spot, was a surprise.
CARDINALS GM JOHN MOZELIAK ON THE PLAYER THE BRAVES TRADED (JUAN YEPEZ)
"He's a young player already playing at a High-A level and holding his own. It's a little bit of a lottery ticket in a sense."
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