Yankees signed 3B Morgan Ensberg

... to be their first baseman vs LHP. Is it just me, or does anyone else find the Yankee first base situation laughable? The team spends a jillion dollars on salaries and, year after year, they simply cannot find a bona fide major league first baseman. There's no reason that this problem should be right up there with cold fusion. The 2008 first base solution appears to be a platoon between two third baseman, Betemit and Ensberg.

On an unrelated matter, Joe Sheehan discusses a different kind of opening day, one that we old Strat players can relate to.

Well, Hinske has lasted for a long time in the majors. He's really only had one good year (2002, when he won the ROY). That five-year contract was great for him but obviously didn't work out for the team. I wonder if the Rockies will regret the Tulowitski deal in five years (I doubt it, but stranger things have happened).

Casey looks like a nice pickup for Boston. His career numbers are very good: 301/366/450. And he's only 32, so a precipitous decline is unlikely.

I wonder if the Rockies will regret the Tulowitski deal in five years (I doubt it, but stranger things have happened).

Hinske signed his long-term contract having just turned 25. Tulowitzki signed his having turned 23. Those two years are a big difference, even if they don't sound like much.

Also, Hinske played a poor defensive third base while Tulowitzki played gold glove caliber shortstop. If Hinske doesn't hit, he has no value. Tulowitzki can let his OPS+ slide well below last year's 108 and still be immensely valuable.

The way I see it, Hinske played full-time in 2002 and hit 279/365/481. He had a great rookie season and won the ROY award.

From 2003-07, his numbers were as follows:

243/329/437 (449 AB)

246/312/375 (570 AB)

262/333/430 (477 AB)

271/353/487 (277 AB)

204/317/398 (186 AB)

Hinske rebounded with good numbers in a part-time role with Toronto and Boston in 2006. Apart from his rookie year and his 277 AB in 2006, Hinske was mediocre or very bad during four of the five years of his contract. In evaluating his performance, I think we need to take into account his position (especially since he was primarily a third baseman, where Hinske was never a particularly good defender, although IMO he did improve from terrible to merely below-average.)

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I liked Hinske a lot in his first year, but could never understand the love for him after that. He just never seemed to be that good, especially for a 3B/1B.

Many liked [Hinske] in his first year, and desperately held on hoping he could repeat it a few times...

I think many people expected him to follow the normal development curve of a major league baseball player, and continue his career path to a peak in his late 20s. He hit 285/380/515 in the minors, and had an outstanding age 24 season in the AL - 119 OPS+, 4th in OPS for 3B - 40 points ahead of Troy Glaus.

Then he disappeared. In what should have been his peak years (age 25-30), he broke his hamate bone, he stopped hitting for average or power, couldn't take a walk, and couldn't hit lefties.

I don't think it was desperation to think he'd at least improve on his outstanding rookie season.