Matt Adams out at least 3-4 months with 'significant' quad tear

During Tuesday night's ragged victory over the visiting Diamondbacks, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams ripped a liner that short-hopped the right-field wall. Adams rounded first at full speed before pulling up lame and coasting into the keystone with a noticeable limp. Manager Mike Matheny and the trainer tended to Adams, who Matheny quickly replaced with Mark Reynolds. The Cardinals revealed during the game that Adams had suffered a quad strain. During Matheny's post-game press conference, he declared Adams's injury concerning and indicated a roster move was likely.

On Wednesday, the Cardinals placed Adams on the 15-day disabled list and promoted Triple-A catcher Ed Easley to take his place on the 25-man active roster. General manager John Mozeliak spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon in St. Louis. Mozeliak shared bad news with respect to Adams's injury: Big Mayo isn't returning to game action anytime soon. Here's a sampling of media-member tweets from the press avail:

Mozeliak says Adams injury is "significant. It won't be 15 days." #STLCards

— Rob Rains (@RobRains) May 27, 2015

Adams' absence will be extended, Mozeliak said. #stlcards determining if it's a Grade 2 or 3 strain. Latter would require surgery.

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) May 27, 2015

Severity of Adams' injury is high, tear greater than Pham's. Could necessitate a surgery. Significant time to miss, likely #cardinals

— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) May 27, 2015

You'll recall that Tommy Pham tore his quad on March 13 and hasn't played in a meaningful baseball game since. The news with respect to Adams's quad tear is dire. He won't be manning first base anytime soon for the Cards.

The replacement at first base is obvious. Mark Reynolds is the new Cardinals everyday first baseman. With the promotion of Easley, the Cards do not have another first baseman on the active roster—though Tony Cruz and Yadier Molina (but not Matt Holliday) joined Reynolds for grounders at the initial sack during today's workout:

Molina, Reynolds and Cruz getting in some pre-game work at the initial sack pic.twitter.com/AEn1cKtPNI

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 27, 2015

The drop-off from Reynolds to Adams isn't as steep as one might suspect, at least according to ZiPS. This is mainly due to Adams's continued deterioration as a big-league hitter during 2015's first two months. In other words, ZiPS does not forecast either player to be all that great over the remainder of the season. Here are the rest-of-season projections for Reynolds and Adams according to Dan Szymborski's projection system:

2015 ZiPS Rest-of-Season Projections: Adams vs. Reynolds

The lack of a demonstrable platoon split for Reynolds constituted a basis to criticize the Cards' decision to sign the veteran slugger this offseason for some. With Reynolds inheriting the everyday first baseman duties from Adams, however, such an offensive profile is undeniably a positive. There is, of course, some question as to who between Reynolds and Adams is the better defender at the initial sack. Depending on the severity of Adams's injury and the performance of Reynolds, Mozeliak may need to add a first baseman to his trade deadline shopping list.

**Update**

#STLCards announce that Matt Adams will miss 3-4 months due to his right quad strain.

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) May 28, 2015

Am told #stlcards are still determining whether Adams will require surgery to address the tear. Regardless, his season could be in jeopardy.

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) May 28, 2015

**Update 2**

Adams will have surgery Friday on torn quad. #cardinals

— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) May 28, 2015