Ortiz at 1st base

[STEPHENANDERSON 2]

In a no dh leage. ever carried a 5 at first or any position before.

Good or bad.

Opinions please?????

[LMBombers]

His defense will be brutal but who wouldn't want Big Papi in their lineup. If you play in a HR park I'd say he is worth it.

[cirills]

I tried it, and it failed.

However, I HAVE been successful in the past with a 5 at 1b, but with a very low error rating (like a 5e3).

I believe that's what Karros was in like '02 and he worked fine for me so I think the e rating is much more important at [b:181a096783]1b[/b:181a096783] than the range factor.

[maligned]

I'm doing alright with Jason Giambi at first base in US Cellular right now in a no-DH league. However, I have a 1 at ss, 1/2 (platoon) at 2b, 1 in cf, 1 at 3b, and 2s in my corner outfield positions. I'm second in runs scored and first in least runs allowed. Unfortunately, my record is only 47-37 (it should be better with my run differential). The point remains, though, you can make it work. I also saw a league champ recently that had Delgado at first.
Remember, other owners will be playing bad defensive players too (much more than normal) in a no-dh league. If you can make yourself good overall defensively, it doesn't seem to matter if one position is subpar.
In fact, because 1B-X comes up so few times, the difference between a 1 and 3 at 2B is about the same as the difference between a 1 and 5 at 1B over the course of a season.

[qksilver69]

I agree the key factor is how good your D is at other IF positions in order to compensate. I would want minimum 2s all the way around the IF to play him Ortiz at 1B, and I'd also want to be in a hitter park as previously mentioned...

[JdEarly]

It might be a coincidence, but I was starting Ortiz at first base with Erstad on the bench, and the team was floundering. I brought in Erstad to start, shifted Ortiz to DH (DH was a failed Ray Durham experiment), and the team took off and went all the way to the finals - sure, I got up 3-1 and then CHOKED, but that's beside the point. Before the switch, the team was competitive. After inserting Erstad into the lineup, they exploded and won the division by 12 games. Sure, it could have just been a coincidence, but that's what happened to me. Which makes me more comfortable NOT starting a 5 at first base. But that's just me.