The season opened with a curious experiment that saw the Cardinals playing Matt Adams in left field. Adams is a large human being who, till this year, had been a first baseman — and, well, the whole left-field experiment didn’t go particularly well. Due to Matt Carpenter’s presence at first, Adams entered the weekend with just 53 plate appearances to his name — plate appearances in which he’d hit fairly well, but without his usual power.

It’s possible that some regular playing time could get Adams back to his old ways. The Atlanta Braves will be the ones to find out, as they traded for him on Saturday to fill in for the injured Freddie Freeman. Freeman had been playing like a superstar before being hit by a pitch and fracturing his wrist.

It’s a devastating blow to a Braves team that already wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry, but you can do a lot worse for a replacement than Adams.

Before this year, Adams had been a solidly average to above-average hitter. He wasn’t going to win you any championships, and his career 59 wRC+ against southpaws leaves a lot to be desired. When he’s right, though, Adams won’t embarrass you at the plate and can hit you some homers. That’s a fine get for an emergency first baseman this early in the season, and he’s markedly better than the other in-house option. James Loney’s days of being a suitable starting first baseman have long since passed, as his stint last year with the Mets showed. Now Adams will be Atlanta’s primary option at first base for about 10 weeks while Freeman recuperates. If he plays well, he may be headed to a third team.

When Freeman comes back, Adams will be relegated to the bench once more. He’s obviously not supplanting Freeman, and we know that he can’t play the outfield. Adams has a 10-week audition to prove that he can still hit for power and play well at first, and the conclusion of those 10 weeks takes us to right before the trade deadline. Someone always needs a left-handed power bat, and he could be a nice option for whichever club finishes second in the Yonder Alonso sweepstakes (assuming Alonso keeps up his torrid pace).

This all assumes that Freeman comes back on time, of course, but Adams could inadvertently find himself in a playoff race because of this trade. That’s not a bad outcome for a guy who started the season falling over himself in left field.