Pittsburgh Pirates 2009 Preview: First Base

Written by: Pat Lackey on 16th March 2009

Pittsburgh Pirates 2009 Preview: First Base | read this item

The story of first base for the Pirates goes like this: if Adam LaRoche figures out how to hit in April and May, they have an All-Star first baseman. If he doesn’t, they have an average one that will start out below replacement level, but crush the ball after the weather heats up. LaRoche had the second best season of his career last year and if not for a mid-summer injury in the middle of his annual hot streak, he might have come close to matching the numbers that he put up in Atlanta in 2006 that made him such an attractive trade target for the Pirates that following off-season.

The bigger question the Pirates have right now is what to do in the long-term with the elder LaRoche. With his brother in Pittsburgh for the forseeable future, Adam has expressed a desire to sign a long-term deal with the Pirates. LaRoche isn’t really a **bad** first baseman and he’s not really **that** old, so it’s not necessarily the worst idea in the world, but it’s not necessarily a great one, either. I think in the end, a team that’s in the position that the Pirates is in shouldn’t really waste time with locking up a player like LaRoche. He’ll be 30 years old in 2010 and his production at first base has never really been great for a first baseman. His two best OPS+ seasons were 2008 (123) and 2006 (130). Again, that’s not bad, but that’s not what a rebuilding team is looking to lock up in a 30-year-old.

That means that LaRoche is probably trade bait this year. He makes an interesting deadline candidate because he’s a much better second half hitter, which would presumably make him attractive to a contender. On the flip side, he’s a free agent after this season, which means the Pirates shouldn’t be expecting a whole lot in return. There’s also the problem of what to do at first base if he’s traded. Steve Pearce will probably get the short-term at-bats, but his bat probably isn’t even as good as LaRoche’s. Long-term, Pedro Alvarez might end up there and that might not be a bad thing if Neil Walker or the other LaRoche steps up at third base.

In the end, I guess the lack of immediate solution at first base if LaRoche is dealt really shouldn’t bother the Pirates or their fans. Neal Huntington’s front office is pretty clearly trying to follow Tampa Bay’s method of accumulating as much talent as possible and worrying how it fits together somewhere down the road. I think that’s about the best thing a team in the Pirates’ position can do, so we’ll worry how it all fits together later.

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Topics: Adam LaRoche, Pedro Alvarez, Steve Pearce