Results Are In!

Hello everyone, and thank you for participating in my most recent poll! The poll question was something that I thought was an important topic for the Yankees to consider. Who should start at first base in 2008? I offered four choices including Giambi, Duncan, Betemit. The fourth option was a free agent signing, but it appears as if that will have to wait at this point.

The results from the poll were somewhat surprising to me. First of all, the readers of this blog impressed me by giving Jason Giambi 50% of the vote. Finishing in a close second was Shelley, taking home 37% of the vote. I am not all that surprised by your selections at the top, but I expected Betemit to do a little better in this one. Mr. Wilson received zero votes... zero! Not one of you out there thinks he can fill in at first a little better than Shelley? My thoughts here are that Betemit is a decent back-up at 3B and SS, making a move over to the "not so hot corner" fairly easy. Betemit has also been around for a while in the bigs, so with consistent at bats you can expect some decent output at the plate.

Now don't get me wrong, Shelley has a lot of qualities that make him a reasonable choice in this poll. He's a big target over there, and has shown quite a bit of pop with the bat. Shelley will certainly see some time at 1B this season, but I really expected Wilson to be closer in votes.

My thoughts about who should start at 1B seem to be in line with you the voters. It's no secret that I have always believed Giambi was underrated on defense. His throws aren't always pin point, but he can be pretty nifty with the leather. I used to play the 1B position, and when working on defense I always kept in mind that I wanted to be the guy the infielders were happy throwing to. What I mean here is that guys aren't worried about making the perfect throw. I feel like the Yankees infield can be happy to throw to Giambi. He's a big target, but that's not all. He can save a high throw, and he's pretty consistent when it comes to scooping those worm burners. Overall, I believe that Jason Giambi should be the starting first-basemen, but I strongly support giving him a lot of days as the DH. If I were Girardi, I'd work Shelley and/or Betemit in often.

I would like to thank everyone who voted, and I invite you all to vote in this week's poll!