For now at least
"You won't see Jose at first base, at least initially," Wakamatsu said. "We've talked to Russell (Branyan) about being our first baseman. And we want to see Jose at second base."
Thanks for that, Don. As Dave Cameron wrote earlier, and we mentioned a few times, Jose Lopez at first base just never made much sense. It made even less sense with the plethora of 1B/DH types that we brought in for beans this winter.
Furthermore, I reject the null hypothesis that Jose Lopez is a terrible defender at second base. He may well become one, he's trending downward in both UZR and Plus/Minus, and it may yet be revealed by some so far undiscovered metric that he was atrocious, but I disagree that we have enough evidence to say that right now.
Lopez's +/- rating in 2008: 0
Lopez's UZR rating in 2008: -3.3
That's not a guy to give up on at second base. Lopez may never turn into a star, but his bat looks to be about average, with upside, and his defense looks serviceable at a premium position. That's valuable.