The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Albies' call-up impacts lineup
Rookie replaces Phillips, Adams starts in left, and Freeman returns to first.
Infield prospect Ozzie Albies
arrived in the majors Tuesday, and the little guy had quite an outsized impact on the Braves lineup. Brandon Phillips moved to an uncertain role and his future with the team is up in the air.
Also changing job descriptions were Freddie Freeman, who’s back to being a full-time first baseman, and Matt Adams, who played left field Tuesday for the first time since the Cardinals tried the big lug out there in April and decided he was not an outfielder.
Adams had played only first base since being traded to the Braves in May after Freeman fractured his wrist. He will be in left field most of the time while Matt Kemp is on the disabled list with a once-again strained hamstring.
Albies, at 20 the youngest player in the majors, was immediately inserted in the lineup at second
base for Tuesday night’s series opener against the Dodgers. Manager Brian Snitker made it clear that Albies would be the primary second baseman for the foreseeable future, leaving veteran second baseman Phillips in a state of limbo.
“We’re a different (team) than we were a few weeks ago,” Snitker said. “Matt (Kemp) went down, so we just keep (Adams’) bat in the lineup in left field. With Ozzie in here; I’ve talked to Brandon about maybe playing some third base. Get Freddie back to first. Like I say, we’re a different team than we were a few weeks ago. Kind of ever-evolving, I guess.
“We’ve got some versatility in the guys we have here, we’ll try to make it work.”
Snitker mentioned to Phillips the possibility of playing some third base, but it wasn’t clear how receptive Phillips would be to playing a position he’s never played except for one game in Double-A 16 years ago.
“It’s funny, it’s just weird how things have a way of working out,” Snitker said. “We got Brandon and he’s been really, really good. But it’s time to see the kid.”
He said he spoke with Phillips on Tuesday and would again today about possibly playing third base, but the Braves know there’s a chance that Phillips, 36 and a pending free agent, might balk at that idea. Snitker said at least Phillips didn’t outright shoot it down when he first brought it up.
Phillips declined through a team spokesperson to speak Tuesday with a reporter about the situation. He had a limited no-trade clause — 12 teams to which a trade required his approval — but it wasn’t believed the Braves received any serious trade offers for him before Monday’s nonwaiver trade deadline.
“He’s thinking,” Snitker said of the part-time thirdbase possibility. “He wasn’t going to play today anyway because he had (a ball) drill him in ankle yesterday, so he was a little sore.”
What was clear is that Albies, the first major leaguer born in 1997, will be in the regular lineup.
The Braves optioned outfielder Micah Johnson and reliever Akeel Morris to Triple-A Gwinnett to open roster spots for Albies and Lucas Sims, who was to start against the Dodgers on Tuesday in his debut. Big doings for the kids.
“It’s good to see (Albies) up here and it’s good to see the Braves are pushing the young guys like when I was coming through (the minors),” Freeman said. “They pushed us and it’s cool to see that they’re doing that again. If they think Ozzie’s ready, then it’s good for us.”
If Adams is to stay in left field — he’s not a player who would make it through waivers and be dealt in August — then whither Kemp when he returns from the DL? That could be a little over a week but might be considerably longer?
Kemp and Phillips, along with reliever Jim Johnson, are veterans with significant salaries who could potentially make it through waivers and be traded this month.
“We’ll try (Adams in left field) until Matt (Kemp) comes back,” Snitker said. “And Danny (Santana) can go out there, Sean (Rodriguez) can go out there. We have some flexibility. If we want leftyrighty, we have those pieces to do that. We’ll just see how it goes.”
And when Kemp returns? “We’ll deal with that when it gets here,” Snitker said. “Lot of things can transpire before then. We’ll just take it today and tomorrow right now.”
Meanwhile, the Freeman third-base experiment appears to have been shortlived. The veteran first baseman moved back to his regular position Tuesday, after playing 16 games at third base since returning from the DL on July 4 including seven of the past eight games. He made the switch voluntarily to keep Adams’ bat in the lineup at first base, but the Braves are a far better defensive team with Freeman at first.
Rodriguez, Santana and Johan Camargo are third-base options, though Camargo has been the primary shortstop since Dansby Swanson was sent down to Triple-A a week ago.