Doug Meintkiewicz
Age: 32 Years Old (Turns 33 in June).

Three-Year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON Team G AB H 1B 2B 3B HR R RBI BB SO SB CS AVG
2004 Twins-Red Sox 127 391 93 62 24 1 6 47 35 48 56 2 3 .238
2005 Mets 87 275 66 42 13 0 11 36 29 32 39 0 1 .240
2006 Royals 91 314 89 59 24 2 4 37 43 35 50 3 0 .283
2007 Bill James 100 292 76 50 18 1 7 34 34 36 47 2 1 .260
2007 CHONE   336 86 59 19 1 7 41 38 37 54 2 1 .256
2007 Marcel   361 94 62 22 1 9 46 43 40 57 3 2 .260
2007 ZiPS   329 84 55 22 1 6 41 36 42 51 2 1 .255

SEASON Team BB% K% BB/K OBP SLG OPS ISO BABIP
2004 Twins-Red Sox 10.9 % 14.3 % 0.86 .326 .350 .676 .113 .264
2005 Mets 10.4 % 14.2 % 0.82 .322 .407 .729 .167 .244
2006 Royals 10.0 % 15.9 % 0.70 .359 .411 .770 .127 .327
2007 Bill James 11.0 % 16.1 % 0.77 .349 .401 .750 .141 .290
2007 CHONE 9.9 % 16.1 % 0.69 .337 .381 .718 .125 .287
2007 Marcel 10.0 % 15.8 % 0.70 .337 .402 .739 .141 .288
2007 ZiPS 11.3 % 15.5 % 0.82 .342 .383 .725 .128 .287

Outlook: What can I say about Minky? Well, for one thing, I will have a hard time spelling his name all season - I can guarantee you that much. Other than that, he's a Proven Veteran of sorts though the Yankees only really need him to be a proven web-gem providing, defensive whiz. As for his bat, well, for a first baseman, it's somewhat medicore but hey, considering what the Yankees got out of Andy Phillips, an average season of Meintkiewicz is a fairly good size step up. If healthy, which hadn't been the case for a full season since 2003 (last year that he had more than 400 ABs), he can be serviceable with a bat and is fully capable of putting up a league average OPS (or at least close to it). However, the health is a key part of this and though he seems to be recovered from his back problems, those are the types of injuries that always seem to flare up at the worst possible times.

Another issue to note is Doug's home/away splits from last year. At Kauffman Stadium, which is def. a hitter's park, Minky put up a .333/.400/.471/.871 line compared to a far less impressive .236./.321/.354/.675 line away from Kansas City.

Despite all of this and the very little power he has, you can still probably count on Minky to make contact and hit both lefties and righties. Still, the reason for his contract is based entirely on Mientkiewicz' first-base defense, as he's very quick around the bag, has very good instincts and is great at fielding throws (as A-Rod and Derek cheer in the background) so if he can just stay healthy and throw up his GG defense, a 90-100 OPS+ would be gravy.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG