Give 'em Some Stankeye!

Here's my wild prediction for the Giants this season and it involves their First Base situation. With J.T. Snow likely not returning, the Giants will either stick Lance Neikro out there in a full time gig or hit the free agent wire and hope to upgrade there. The big First Base prize this offseason is Paul Konerko, but that ain't happening. We all know that when faced with the decision of either signing a potential impact player or gathering a group of crappy veterans, Brian Sabean will always be naturally drawn to the veterans, like Pooh Bear being continually returning to raid the honey jar even though he gets his nose stuck every single time.

So here's who I think we'll see at First next year: former Gold Glover and all-around spelling bee foe Doug Mientkiewicz. Keep in mind that I'm not saying this is the best move, or even a good one, but just a move that I think has the highest probability of becoming a reality.

Expect to see Doug Minkvxzyi!#%$^! in a Giants uniform in 2006.



Think about it. Minky is basically a younger version of J.T. Snow, a slick-fielding pretty boy who is generally liked by the media because of his upbeat attitude and his dirt dog mentality, and who is overrated by lots of people because of his glove. Also like Snow, Minky has a weak bat for a player at the keystone. But as we know, Sabean likes these kinds of guys, the guys who apparently help you win games via some magical power that no one can really see. Mientkiewicz was (and probably still is) one of the best fielders in the game, and he got a ton of hype for it when he was a member of the Twins.

As we all know, Sabean is a sucker for hype, often listening to it over objective evaluation, and he has a bad habit of throwing wads of money at players based on this hype (Matheny, Vizquel), even though their actual performance hardly merits it. Minky is the type of guy who has been characterized as a gamer, and who has been on winning teams almost his entire career, so don't be surprised if Sabean is seduced and Dougie Alphabet suits up and steals at bats from Neikro next year.

I've always admittedly been a big fan myself of Minky (again with the love of dirty uniform, red-ass types), but even I'm realistic enough to admit that he shouldn't take playing time from Neikro. If he's signed cheaply and is only given starts against tough righties I think it'd be a nice little pickup. He had an .803 OPS away from Shea Stadium last season and his plate discipline provides a decent occasional alternative to Neikro's wild hacking. Sadly, with Dumbass Alou at the helm, if Minky does get signed by the Giants, I think we'll be seeing a whole lot of him while Neikro rots on the bench.