St. Louis Cardinals: Evaluating the arbitration eligible players

May 1, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams (32) celebrates after hitting a walk-off single off of Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Rob Scahill (52) during the tenth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Adams

I talked at length about the potential behind Matt Adams before he came off of the disabled list. I simply cannot see the club giving up on the player they talked so highly about for so long. We have all seen what Adams can do when he’s at his best, unfortunately for him he’s just not going to get the opportunity to run away with the position unless he has an amazing spring with Piscotty likely going to get a shot to be the starter there, assuming Jason Heyward resigns with the team.

We saw how much Matt Holliday struggled with the same quad injury when he came back and Adams’ was more severe and required more time on the DL. So, I do have some optimism that Adams can come back and be the Cardinals’ Mike Moustakas, who had a breakout year after struggling in his first few seasons in the big leagues.

With that said, Adams will likely get a one year deal to buy out this year of arbitration. The club could look to deal him in the right deal, as again I believe Adams at this point in his career still has great potential. He has four more years before he becomes a free agent, so if a club really wants to take a shot at bringing Adams on board and offers Mo the right price, he could be gone by this time next year. However, I don’t see this happening with first base being a hole for the team right now and potentially being a hole once Piscotty moves into the outfield either this season or when Holliday is no longer occupying left field.

Next: Seth Maness