St. Louis Cardinals: One John’s trash is another John’s treasure

Former St. Louis Cardinals first baseman and Slippery Rock Alum Matt “Big City” Adams is Raking for the Atlanta Braves. This recent surge highlights the ineptitude of the Cardinals front office.

The St. Louis Cardinals sabotaged Matt Adams’ career. Make no mistake about it, the organization failed to give a strong career hitter regular playing time, choosing instead to parade a squad of deplorables and career minor league journeymen around the diamond.

Given an opportunity to play full time, Matt Adams is delivering clutch hits and massive production numbers for the Atlanta Braves. Don’t believe me? Let the numbers do the talking.

Big City has amassed twenty-four hits in twenty-two games played for Atlanta, and thirteen of those twenty-four hits were for extra bases. Yes, last night he added a 3-for-4 performance with two homers, four RBIs, and a walk, for good measure as the Braves drubbed the Nationals 11-10.

Just to show you how decidedly manila our St. Louis Cardinals are, the Braves improved to 28-35, while our Birds on the Bat improved to 29-32 after three straight wins.

Adams has hit eight home runs and driven in nineteen runs for the Braves, including more of his late-inning heroics.

I would also like to note that Adams’ performance is based, mostly, on increased playing time, but it is also based on the fact that Atlanta has a better offense than the St. Louis Cardinals this year.

Again, don’t believe me? The Braves outpace the Cardinals in runs, hits, total bases, RBIs, average, OBP, slugging and OPS. I know. I was shocked too. It really makes you appreciate that starting staff our team is wasting.

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I, for one, always liked Big City, and thought he was the best defensive option at first base for this team (not left field, Mike Matheny). He can at least catch the ball – which Matt Carpenter has shown difficulty doing. I also trusted his professional hitting approach and prowess. His career numbers were too good to simply be lightning in a bottle. The guy went deep off of a Clayton Kershaw curveball in the playoffs – what more do you need?

Now, Atlanta is reaping the benefits of Adams’ increased playing time at the expense of the St. Louis Cardinals. Meanwhile, our starting staff continues to be creative in conjuring ways to win games while this team averages a couple runs per matchup. Speculation runs rampant that the Cardinals need a middle-of-the-order bat, while Adams performs like one for the Braves.

All it took was playing time.

The St. Louis Cardinals, for their part, received an entire sack of toasted ravioli, two sleeves of nickels, and an option to terminate Mike Shannon’s contract in return for Adams. Jedd Gyorko ate the ravioli, the nickels were spent paying Juan Yepez, and for some reason, Shannon is still whaling in the announcer booth.

Dealing Matt Adams was a mistake. It did not take much time for Big City to prove John Mozeliak and the St. Louis Cardinals wrong, as Atlanta President of Baseball Operations, John Hart proves that he is the more cunning. John Mozeliak is close to losing his hold on the title of the masterful architect if he keeps getting hoodwinked on deals made to make his manager fall in line.

Next: Finding Value in the Draft

Fans should hold the St. Louis Cardinals accountable for the mistaken trade of Adams for absolutely nothing. The front office subtracted from the big league team and got no value in return. Now, the cost to frantically improve this team will cost it the few coveted prospects it has left. Buckle up Cardinals fans, this season is going to be longer than the first two rounds of the draft last night.

Former St. Louis Cardinals first baseman and Slippery Rock Alum Matt “Big City” Adams is Raking for the Atlanta Braves. This recent surge highlights the ineptitude of the Cardinals front office.

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