The Braves went cheap at 1B allowing Adam LaRoche to leave as a free agent. They signed 33-year old righty swinging Troy Glaus to play 1B for them in 2010. There is a risk involved with Glaus as he missed most of last season with a bum shoulder. Glaus played in 14 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 5 for 29 (.172 avg, .491 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. The Braves are thinking that if Glaus is healthy that he will provide stats like 78 runs scored, 30.5 homers and 90.5 RBIs which are his season averages between 2005-2008. Glaus is a natural 3B so he will have a lot of work to do defensively this spring as he adjusts to the other side of the baseball diamond. He didn’t make any errors in 2 games at 1B last season for the Cardinals.

32-year old lefty swinging Eric Hinske will spend most of his time in the outfield unless Glaus goes down to injury. He played in 6 games at 1B for the Yankees and Pirates last season and he didn’t make any errors. 26-year old righty swinging Martin Prado is the starting 2B this season for the Braves so don’t expect him to slide to 1B this year. He played in 28 games at 1B for the Braves last season and he only made 1 error.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 1B IN 2010: C-