The Diamondbacks went out and signed 30-year old lefty swinging Adam LaRoche to handle first base for them in 2010. He played in 150 games last season with the Red Sox, Braves and Pirates in which he was 154 for 555 (.277 avg, .843 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 25 homers and 83 RBIs. LaRoche is a slow starter and the D-Backs can’t afford that to happen again in 2010. LaRoche is also a very underrated fielder as he only made 2 errors in 148 games at 1B last season. That’s good news for the rest of the infield.

31-year old Jeff Bailey might have a decent shot at making the D-Backs this spring. He played in 26 games for the Red Sox last season and he was 16 for 77 (.208 avg, .746 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 3 homers and 9 RBIs. Bailey made 2 errors in 23 games at 1B last season so he will need to improve if he’s going to make the team out of spring training.

23-year old lefty swinging Bradon Allen will likely start the year in AAA because the D-Backs will want him playing everyday somewhere. He played in 32 games for the D-Backs last season and he was 21 for 104 (.202 avg, .669 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 4 homers and 14 RBIs. Allen often looked overmatched by major league pitchers who whiffed him 40 times last season. Allen made 2 errors in 32 games at 1B so he has room for improvement on defense.

27-year old righty swinger Conor Jackson will be likely the starting LF for the D-Backs so he won’t have much time to play his old position. He played in 6 games for the D-Backs at 1B last season making 1 error.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 1B IN 2010: B