2008 Season In Review: First Basemen

First base is a position that people heavily associate with power hitters, and the Dodgers were hoping that James Loney's power had finally emerged late in the 2007 season. Unfortunately, the power surge never continued into 2008, and everybody is now left wondering whether it will ever come. Loney's still 24, but his line of .289/.338/.434/.772 is simply unacceptable for a first baseman on a contending team. His OPS was 20th out of 24 qualifying MLB first basemen, and his value in other metrics didn't fair much better. He was 19th in RC (81), 19th in VORP (17.0), and was a paltry 3.50 bRAA. I'm sorry, but that's simply not acceptable production from a first baseman. I still have high hopes for Loney, but I think some people set the bar much too high after his 2007. I know I wasn't...