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First Base, in General

Edgy MD May 24 2012 07:03 AM

Apart from our firstbaseman, who seems to be having the worst season of them all, why are so many firstbaggers stinking up the stadium this year? You would think that the easy position to staff defensively would be the easiest to find a guy who can hit for you. And I would guess that most teams feel somewhat entitled to at least an .800 OPS from their firstbaseman. I check and see and find there are only six such guys qualifying as firstbasemen putting up such lofty a number. And even that's deceptive, as two of them --- Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn --- are sharing the job with the White Sox and also playing elsewhere. One of them, Adam LaRoche, is a surprise to me, as I've long considered him a glorified platoon player. Mark Teixiera, who sleeps on a bed of cold green cash, you've been stinking. Adrian Gonzalez, lusted after by every team in the league, you give your manager headaches. Todd Helton, you may someday be in the Hall of Fame, but now you're in the Hall of Awful. Albert Pujols, one of the five best firstbasemen of all time, you have an OPS that would get Rey Ordòñez chastised. There's certainly the notion that they're all coming off the juice at the same time. I don't really want to go there, but I might as well put the card on the table up front. There's the idea that so many of them are particularly old or particularly young, with few beauties in their prime like Joey Votto, but that doesn't hold up for me either, as some young guys should come quicker than others, and some old guys should hang in there longer than others. But they're almost all just farting away, and some of the few that aren't are headscratchers too. I mean... Adam Dunn! His entire season last year was comparable to what the Mets are getting now from Ike Davis, more or less. He was historically bad. I guess I could take that to mean there's hope for Davis yet.

Ceetar May 24 2012 07:11 AM Re: First Base, in General

been an interesting early season. Texiera has seemingly become a one-dimensional slugger (well two , since he supposedly still plays good defense) and I do wonder if maybe he'd have had sub-800 OPS if it wasn't for the friendly walls. Could it be that the slow start he's so good at is that his number 1 thing is home runs and in the cold april air and small sample size of games at home he's just not there yet? Similar arguments could probably be make for some of the other guys too. home run numbers are always depressed early on (although it's been a warm spring and it's getting towards June now).

The Second Spitter May 24 2012 09:06 AM Re: First Base, in General

Ceetar wrote: been an interesting early season. Texiera has seemingly become a one-dimensional slugger (well two , since he supposedly still plays good defense) and I do wonder if maybe he'd have had sub-800 OPS if it wasn't for the friendly walls. Could it be that the slow start he's so good at is that his number 1 thing is home runs and in the cold april air and small sample size of games at home he's just not there yet? Similar arguments could probably be make for some of the other guys too. home run numbers are always depressed early on (although it's been a warm spring and it's getting towards June now). Teixeira has been in steady decline and has four plus years left. At this rate MFY will be paying $45M in his last two years for a league average 1b. Also think his defense is overrated.