Looking at Free Agents and Trade Targets – 1st Basemen

Wow what a shitshow that is the class of 1st basemen in this year’s free agent pool. The most alluring is most likely..

Nick Johnson. Fat Nick can get on base with the best of them. He also enjoys freak injuries, as well as regular injuries. He’s also not endowed with prodigious power. He only hits fly balls a third of the time, as has been a trend throughout his career. I don’t think signing Johnson for more than 5M annually is such a good idea.

Errr Nick Johnson hungryyy!

Destination? I’m going to go with… Oakland. I’m not making fun of Moneyball, I just think interest in him might wane and he’ll end up falling to Oakland for a discounted price. That’s how Billy Beane rolls, yo.

Adam LaRoche can’t hit in the first half of the season. It’s quite impossible for him, you see. He’s quite open on his struggles with ADD, perhaps it takes him a few months to truly focus (Sorry, I’m one to think anyone on earth can be diagnosed with ADD. ADHD is a different story, in my opinion. There.).  LaRoche had his best walk rate ever last year, but also his second worst strikeout rate. Here’s what will happen: He’ll maybe struggle in the first half, or maybe he breaks through from that curse on his production and has a decent first half. In any case, at the end of the day, he’s hitting .260/340/.480 with 25-30 homers. Do you want that? Then sign him. If you expect more, then don’t. Being a GM isn’t that hard in this context.

Destination? …Toronto. They were thinking of trading Overbay, anyway.

Carlos Delgado had a pretty nice ’08 season. As you may know, he spent the entire ’09 season injured. And he’ll be 38 next year. What can we expect from one of my favorite players from my youth? Well, I have no idea. He had hip surgery, and as you know, most 90 year olds can’t come back from that.

Destination? Mets. Minaya thinks he can get 2008 all over again, because he obviously has never heard of quitting while you’re ahead. I would love to take on Omar Minaya in poker.

The only other free agent first baseman who even qualifies as a type B (There are no type A’s) is.. Fernando Tatis. How’d he manage that? I wouldn’t bother with him; he’s going to be 34 and showed a precipitous drop in most categories from ’08 to ’09.

Who runs fernandotatis.com?

Destination? Minnesota Twins. Noooooooooo! Fernando Tatis is not the answer, Bill Smith. You did such a great job luring J.J. Hardy over here, why’d you have to go ruin it with Fernando Tatis and his veteran leadership. And the fact that he once hit 34 home runs in 1999. Twins fans were wondering, who’s it gonna be at 3rd? Joe Crede, Pedro Feliz, Mark DeRosa? No. Fernando Tatis. Ugh.

Then there’s Russel Branyan. He had a .269 ISO last year. He also had an 11.9% walk rate. Well even though he’s 34 and hasn’t really done had that kind of production over a full season before, I’m sure someone will find a home for him.

Destination? I’d like to see Branyan end up in San Francisco. He’d be an upgrade over Travis Ishikawa (Pee-yeew) and would have the glorious opportunity to play in the National League, establishing himself for a DH role back in the American league in 2011. Smart man, Russel Branyan.

The trade market? Well it certainly exists! Would Boston like to move Mike Lowell? Quite possibly, as it allows them to have Youkilis man third while they pursue a first basemen such as Johnson (Full circle, I know). Or they could keep Youkilis at first and sign a third sacker such as.. Chone Figgins? Oh, the possibilities!

The modern day Rick James. Mike Lowell will buy you a puppy. But he won’t even give you its health records. He’s Mike Lowell, bitch.

Destination (For Lowell)? The Cardinals might feel obliged, as they just lost Bret Wallace in the Matt Holliday trade, and will likely lose Mark DeRosa, as well.

Miguel Cabrera? Dombrowski says he’s not holding a fire sale, but Cabrera might feel like winning one of these days, and the financial situation in Detroit doesn’t look too rosy. Cabrera is at his peak, and his production figures to remain a constant for a while, at least. Who’d want that?

Destination? Dodgers. James Loney ain’t cuttin it at first. The man has no power. Teach him third and mix him in with Blake over there. The Dodgers can afford Cabrera’s contract (Although I’m not sure what the McCourts are up to these days with that divorce and all..), and he certainly provides even more power to a lineup that already has Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez. Oh, I’m sorry, and Juan Pierre.

Adrian Gonzalez isn’t going anywhere. Not this offseason. To me, the rumors floating around about him were probably started by Boston journalists with their heads, collectively, in the clouds. Like my brother, the sultan of, “You know who the Twins should get? _insert big name player under contract for another team who makes more than 15M_ Why not, we’ll just trade Morneau and Revere or something.” Anyway, as much as Boston can hope for Adrian, he’s all San Diego has left. How can they sell tickets when their leading hitter is Kevin Kouzmanoff?

Well, no one said he didn’t look freaky. Or that he could wear camo uniforms well.

Does anybody want Daric Barton? The man can take a walk. And he’s cost controllable, but you know Billy B won’t get swindled.

Destination? Pittsburgh. Neil Huntington seems a wee bit more savvy than his predecessors in Pittsburgh, and might look to jump on a young, high OBP player who might need a change of scenery.

Oh, I’m sure there are more possible trades that could be floated about. But finding a decent hitting 1st baseman isn’t rocket science. They’re everywhere.