Quote Originally Posted by clvclv View Post
if Adams is just what he's always been (more or less) in Freddie's absence. Not because the team is particularly good, but because the other teams are so bad - several of them unexpectedly bad. The fact that they're still hanging around .500 while the starting pitching has been so bad means you should be able to expect a pretty nice improvement when the Pitchers pitch just a bit more like what's on the backs of their baseball cards. If Freeman is good to go by the break, Adams is kept as a bench piece, Swanson can keep making adjustments, and everyone stays relatively healthy
Baseball doesn't work like that though, everybody isn't going to stay healthy and its just as likely when the pitchers start getting more consistent, Kemp/Flowers/Markakis will start slumping.

Sure in a perfect world scenario the pitchers become consistent, the bullpen stays lights out, Flowers/Suzuki/Phillips/Kemp/Markakis keep hitting and staying healthy, Adams is a suitable fill-in, Freeman comes back and doesn't miss a beat and Swanson keeps adjusting; but how many of those things will actually happen?