Richie Sexson

e players, one surprising, but the other one, not so much.

Easy one first: the Yankees designated Richie Sexson for assignment yesterday, in a roster shakeup that included demoting starting center fielder Melky Cabrera. Sexson had hit .250 in 28 at-bats, with a grand slam and six RBis. Ever the all-or-nothing guy, Sexson had one or two big hits, and a whole lot of hits and weak groundouts. Yankees GM Brian Cashman was gracious about Sexson, saying he was an everyday player, not a bunch guy, and that was the problem.

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;s about as useful as a left-handed monkey wrench, and about as valuable, too.

Some might look at Richie Sexson’s one-game performance with the Yankees—one for four with a walk and RBI, both of the latter rare occurrences that the Yankee fans should treasure—as a warning sign against releasing guys with some value to them. The problem, of course, is that Sexson has value with the Yankees for what they’re paying him (a reported $160,000) and not for what they would have had to pay for him in a Mariners trade ($15.5 million). That’s a heck of a difference, and Vidro’s got the same problem.

Continue reading "No Way, Jose"

As I expected, Richie Sexson was signed by the one team in major league baseball who signs every single castoff, just in case he might turn it around in pinstripes: the Yankees. The temptation of that short porch in Yankee Stadium right field, combined with Sexson’s power potential, was too tempting to the team that claimed Jose Canseco off waivers in 2000, just to be sure he didn’t go to a division rival.

Continue reading "Sexson a Yankee; LaHair a Mariner"

Even more than Bavasi, though, I've been hollering about the Big Mistake that was Richie Sexson, a ballplayer with declining skills who, even at the height of his high-strikeout longball powers, was a poor fit for Safeco. 

Continue reading "Sexson Becomes Ex-Son"

Superstinker Richie Sexson, hitting seventh, went into the night with a .222/.313/.377 line (which only looks awful until you note that his OPS is almost thirty points higher than it was two weeks ago), while the best slugger on the team, Adrian Beltre, had a swell-looking .253/.324/.449, and was hitting fifth.

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I'm going to deliberately provoke the ire of my easily ire-provokable friend/reader Drano by using horse racing once again as a blog segue (blogue? Have I created a word here?) For those who aren't privy to our emails--which is anyone outside of the NSA, I suppose--Drano doesn't like that I've mentioned a failed Triple Crown in horse racing while utterly failing to mention the victory of his team in the exciting Stanley Cup that happened a few weeks back. His team . . . the Stanley Cup . . . darned if I can't remember the name of his team or the sport he follows so avidly . . . but anyway, on to horse racing and baseball . . .

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The dominoes continue to fall in Seattle, as John McLaren was handed his walking papers yesterday, three days after GM Bavasi tried on his own pink slip. In some ways, this was handled better than the Mets’ embarrassing and insulting firing of Willie Randolph. At least McLaren wasn’t dangled for weeks before a midnight assassination, and there were suitably kind words for McLaren upon his dismissal, with new GM Lee Pelekoudas obviously distressed about having to fire his longtime friend and colleague.

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In related look-to-the future news, the Everett Herald reported today that the Ms may drop Richie Sexson entirely, dropping yet another millstone from around Seattle’s neck. Let someone else feel the breeze from Sexson’s mighty strikeout swipes at the ball. Jeff Clement was called up again, after scorching AAA after his return, and he’s been taking throws at first. He’ll certainly do some DHing, and will spell Kenji Johjima behind the dish during the Ms upcoming NL swing, but even a converted catcher has more of a future than The Big Not-So-Sexy.

Continue reading "Two Brief Bits"

Along with the rest of the Mariner community on this site (and Seattle fans across the NW) I've been howling for the head of Bill Bavasi, and that chorus of angry villagers only became more raucous as the Ms have stumbled to the worst record in baseball this season, and the siege on Castle Frankenstein had begun. Miraculously, Mariner management saw the light (or perhaps the flickering torches) and fired Bavasi yesterday, a move that began joyous celebrations across the tri-state area.

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Well, it was all over ESPN last night, and the Seattle bloggers and sportswriters are buzzing about it: the normally cool-headed John McLaren lost his temper in yesterday's news conference. His Mariners are 18 games below .500 in spite of a $120M payroll, and they play like a team of Little Leaguers, or at least overpaid Little Leaguers who are just waiting for their candy bar and Gatorade at the end of the game. McLaren railed about how tired he was of losing, how tired his players are of playing hard but getting nothing for their efforts, and of how something was going to have to change--and soon.

Continue reading "McLaren Blows His Top"

For starters, Mariners manager John McLaren has seen the light as far as Richie Sexson goes, and the lanky righty power hitter is getting well-deserved splinters in his butt for the fourth straight day. Sexson is hitting a moribund .200/.277/.413 with 17 walks against 53 strikeouts, a number exceeding his total of hits (31) and RBIs (21) for the season. Those are awful numbers for any player, let alone your cleanup hitter, let alone the second-highest paid guy on your roster.

Continue reading "Weak Saturday Baseball: Mariners vs. Tigers"

In case you haven't been closely following the box score, you may not have noticed that Richie Sexson has not seen action in 3 straight games. Miguel Cairo has instead been taking the duties at 1B. Could it be that Sexson has seen his last action in Seattle? I believe so.

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mpact on these games.  Oddly enough, he made that impact without stepping on the field.

Richie Sexson and his $12.5 million salary were kept out of games 2 and 3 of the Red Sox series, resulting in the two biggest wins of the season for the Mariners.  While John McLaren would be smartest to keep Sexson and his abysmal .200 avg on the bench for the remainder of the season, the size of Sexson's salary forces management to keep Richie on the field.  With that kind of salary, it could cause anyone to believe that Richie must be on the verge of breaking out of a 2 year slump and finally contributing.

Continue reading "Richie Sexson: Single-handedly destroying ..."

In this morning's Seattle Times, Mariners beat writer Geoff Baker talked to Carlos Silva about clubhouse accountability. As I have expected, no one in the clubhouse feels accountable or at fault for this losing season. And face it, if people don't feel bad about their play as well as their team's, nothing will ever be fixed. This team needs a leader. I don't see anyone on this team that can fill that role. The one player that could change things is J.J. Putz. He is somewhat of a leader in the locker room, but is seen as more as a prankster than a leader. Without someone in the locker room to light a fire under the players (McLaren sure can't do it), this team will never be able to succeed.

Continue reading "Dear Mariners: Feel Embarrassed"

the Seattle Mariners of course!  What better topic?  Why the controversial king himself, Richie Sexson.  Even the name bites into the controversy.  Last week, during the Mariners losing streak, facing the Texas Rangers, Richie took a high pitch.  The pitch was high enough that the six foot eight player thought it was for his head and not his bat.  In a rage, Richie responded by tearing out to the pitchers mound in a entertaining manner seeking revenge for the attempt.  When the bench cleared, and the football tackling was over, The Big Sexy found himself suspended. Watching the altercation go down, you could clearly see the frustration of a losing streak bursting out from behind home plate.   Richie was replaced by Miguel Cario at first base while the suspension was being served.   I am confident that the Mariners will snap the losing streak.  The team has been playing a better brand of baseball. 

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mid-market city, but the franchise thinks it's big-market, throwing out big contracts to guys like Richie Sexson, Adrian Beltre and Jarrod Washburn, all of them fair-to-middling players. Beltre signed his deal right after a season that just screamed "fluke!" and his numbers have shown as much. Sexson never was much good at anything but hitting the ball a country mile now and again. Both Sexson and Beltre are hard swingers with good power when they do make contact, but big K numbers when they don't.

Continue reading "Season Prospects for the Mariners"