Andy Phillips has been vastly underrated as a defensive first baseman, and I'd take him as an in-house option over Mientkiewicz as a defensive player. And frankly, I don't find a career .270 hitter who averages 11 HR's over 162 games to be a "pretty darn good hitter," especially since his durability is a question. But I'll take Mientkiewicz as a defensive option over Giambi...a Gold Glove winner? Gimme gimme gimme.

However, this is nothing more than a (bad) stop leak. Even though he has a decent walk to strikeout ratio, platooning Mientkiewicz with Phillips or Phelps...that has to be the worst offensive first-base lineup in baseball. Phelps is the only one with some pop, Mientkiewicz is an instant out, and Phillips goes hot and cold like a refrigerator during blackouts.

Getting ahold of Nick Johnson, who is reportedly available, or Sexon, or even snagging Mark Texiera from the Rangers, has to be the long term option at first base. But this has to be the most glaring hole in the lineup. Period.

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And I still say trading Randy Johnson for Vizcaino et al is a bad move. The only way this works is if they use these prospects to get someone like Texiera. Otherwise, we're going to be overloaded in AAA with young arms (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), and be missing a quality starter who has won us 17 games two years in a row.