updated 12:48 p.m. ET Dec. 20, 2005

LOS ANGELES - Nomar Garciaparra is moving to first base with the Los Angeles Dodgers, confident it will be a smooth transition.

And at age 32, he thinks he has several good years left no matter what position he plays.

In Boston, Garciaparra was one of baseball’s best shortstops and a five-time All-Star who won two batting titles. The Dodgers only hope he approaches that level.

“One-year deals, changing positions, I’m not worried about that,” Garciaparra said at a Dodger Stadium news conference Monday — one day after agreeing to a $6 million, one-year contract that allows him to earn an additional $4 million in performance bonuses.

He also considered the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros.

“If I had something to prove, I wouldn’t have had so many teams talking to me,” Garciaparra said. “I had opportunities to take more than one year. I could have played short for a couple teams.”

Garciaparra was strictly a shortstop after his sophomore year in high school until last season, when he played third base for the Chicago Cubs in August and September.

“As of today, he’s a first baseman,” Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said.

Garciaparra said he looks forward to the challenge of playing first.

“I’ll probably be working on it prior to spring training,” he said. “Breaking in a new glove, that will be a challenge. You embrace them, you welcome them.”

Despite having played in only 21 big league games in 2001, 81 in 2004 and 62 last year, Garciaparra maintained he’s not injury-prone.

“No, not at all,” he said.

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Garciaparra hit .283 with nine homers and 30 RBIs for the Cubs last season, when he earned $8.25 million. He tore his left groin running out of the batter’s box in St. Louis on April 20 and didn’t return until Aug. 5.

He missed 81 games in 2004 with three injuries — to his Achilles’ tendon, left wrist and right groin. And in 2001 with the Red Sox, he underwent surgery on his right wrist.

“I feel great,” he said. “I felt that way at the end of last year.”

Can he play 150 games next season?

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