Pittsburgh Pirate’s dilemma. Who’s on first?

Gaby Sanchez tosses his bat after being called out on strikes during the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

I didn’t realize just how dire our first base situation was until I caught myself saying, “geez, I wish they wouldn’t have let Jeff Clement go”.  Then I immediately open-hand slapped myself in the face and swore to never say those words again.

But really, the question that should be on everyone’s mind is, who’s on first?  After Garrett Jones was sent out to pasture and Justin Morneau got overpaid to go play in Colorado.  Apparently Colorado wanted to dramatically improve their ‘ground out to shortstop ratio’ which is why Morneau was so attractive to them.  But with both of them leaving, we have literally one man on the roster with any significant time at First Base.  Gaby Sanchez.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not entirely down on Gaby.  Not everyone knows this, but Gaby hit .333 with a .987 OPS against left handed pitching.  That’s one half of a darn good player right there.  Now, the other side of that coin looks downright hideous and isn’t even worth discussing.  Let’s just say, Mendoza comes to mind.  So the answer that will come from management is simple.  Platoon Gaby with someone who can hit right handers.  But who?

Well… James Loney is looking less and less like an option.  Neal “no deal” Huntington only overpays for pitching and Clint Barmes.  So I don’t see him giving Loney the three year deal he wants.  And there are some trade options out there like Ike Davis.  But NH hoards pitching prospects like Gollum hoards the ring of power, so I don’t have much faith in that happening.  Prospects are my preciooousss..  And even if it did happen, Davis is just average at best, so he wouldn’t be the ideal answer.

So really, who’s on first??  Well, they started playing Andrew Lambo at first base in the winter leagues.  This is an ominous foreshadowing of events to come bucs fans.   Not saying a deal won’t happen with an outside player.  My guess is we will get someone in.  But this person isn’t going to knock your socks off, I assure you.   So it looks like we could eventually have a mix of Gaby Sanchez, Andrew Lambo, and another player to be named.

Which I guess I could live with unless Gaby gets hurt.  No offense to Gaby, but he’s not exactly a model of physical fitness.  And he recently turned 30.  Couple that with the fact that he’s never met a carb he didn’t like and an injury could very well occur at some point in the season.  Which leaves us really hurting. We’d have to grab someone off of waivers or even consider (gulp), bringing up Matt Hague!

So first base remains a dilemma, but I trust our mighty GM to do the right thing.  You can’t argue with the results he’s gotten so far.  I just wish he’d get a move on already because I’m getting nervous.  Hmm… I wonder what Derek Lee is up to nowadays?