Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams had surgery for completely torn quad
The St. Louis Cardinals knew they would be without first baseman Matt Adams for an extended period after he pulled up with a quad injury during Tuesday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
An MRI confirmed as much, revealing that Adams had suffered at least a partial tear of his quad, which they knew would require surgery and sideline him up to four months.
On Friday, team orthopedist Dr. David King performed the surgery on Adams and discovered he had suffered a complete tear, which cements the recovery time at no less than four months and almost certainly ends his season.
“It’s really premature to understand what that that would look like, but our hope is that he has a full and complete recovery,” general manager John Mozeliak said of Adams possibly returning before the end of the season. “Obviously, we expect Spring Training to be normal. In terms of whether we’d be able to have him available for late September or if we were to be playing in October, time would tell.”
Bottom line, it’s not a short term issue and it’s definitely another blow to the Cardinals all around depth, although obviously not quite as devastating as another loss in the rotation would be with Adam Wainwright already lost for the season.
Though Adams wasn’t performing up to expectations this season, hitting just .243/.281/.375, he’s a middle of the order anchor who is capable of heating up and carrying an offense for stretches. The good news is St. Louis still has several of those types in the lineup, including early All-Star favorites Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta, along with Yadier Molina, Jason Heyward, Matt Holliday and perhaps even an emerging Kolten Wong.
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The best option to replace Adams from within is Mark Reynolds, which might not represent all that big a drop in production at the first base position. Reynolds is at least capable of maintaining an average close to Adam’s this season, and has plenty of power to spare.
In fact, according to Fangraphs projections for the two players, St. Louis stands to lose very little from their every day lineup. In terms of WAR, the loss of Adams projects to one less win, which wouldn’t be crippling at all despite the presence of the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates. Inserting Reynolds into the lineup every day does take a big element away from Mike Matheny’s bench, but that’s easier to work around.
For now, MLB.com’s Jenifer Longosch says the Cardinals will extend the opportunity to Reynolds and allow him to run with the job. If he falters, then the Cardinals will reassess, but there will not be an aggressive pursuit of a more notable replacement.
“I’m not going to get into rumors or potential players that we may or may not have interest in,” Mozeliak said, answering a question specifically about outside Ryan Howard trade chatter. “Right now, I think we have a good club, and let’s just see how things play out. Injuries sometimes make you change direction on how you put a team out there, but Mark Reynolds was signed for a reason, and we’re going to give him every opportunity right now.”
The Cardinals and Mozeliak have proven to be effective at plugging holes and maximizing value for several years. Until the bloom comes off that rose, it’s advised to give them the benefit of the doubt.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
