The search for a first baseman. Thanks again Cito.

A few days ago I wrote a post about the possibility of Carlos Pena signing with the Blue Jays, as a one-year stop gap before the team could find a longer term solution. I was right on one count, as he did sign a one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs yesterday, but holy shit was I off on the salary. As The Blue Jay Hunter mentioned in the comments section of the post "bravo to Scott Boras".

That being said, the concept of signing a veteran first baseman with above average defensive skills and decent a bat is still something I would consider if I were Alex Anthopolous. And no, I don't mean Lyle Overbay. The two names that stick out to me are Adam Laroche and Derek Lee. Let's take a look at each player's stats:

• Adam Laroche
• At age 31 sports a career slash line of .271/.339/.488
• Last year posted a .261/.320/.468 line with 25 homeruns
• Last year posted a WAR of 2.1
• He only made a $4.5 million in salary.
• He looks like Bert from Sesame Street.  
• Derek Lee
• Career slash line is .282/.367/.498
• Last year posted a .260/.347/.428 line in a down year
• Posted WARs of 3.9, 3.2, 5.2, 2.0 in the past four years, respectively.
• He made a wopping $13.25 million last year, but won't command anything near that this year. I would hope. 
• He's 35 years old

Based on last year's WAR alone, you could make an argument that Laroche is the better option; especially given his age. I tend believe however that although Derrek Lee is getting old, his stats from last year really aren't indicative of what we can expect from the veteran first baseman going forward. As Drunk Jays Fans pointed out, his poor numbers could be a result of an injured thumb he played with for the entire season and had surgery on once the season was over.

Again all this speculation, well, is just that. I would never consider signing Lee to antyhing longer than a one year contract, and wouldn't want to come close to the deal Carlos Pena recently signed with Cubs. If the asking price and terms are in the right ballpark (honestly, no pun intended), I think you could do a hell of a lot worse than signing Derrek Lee.

That being said, it's a good thing we never got see much of Adam Lind at first base last year or we might not be able to have soooo much fun throwing these rumours around. We might instead be talking about bringing in a veteran DH like Manny Ramirez or Ordonez, and having our long term solution at first base taken care of. Thanks again Cito.