Sexson a Yankee; LaHair a Mariner

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.

It’s not likely that the Red Sox (with an ailing Papi) or the Rays (with a struggling Carlos Pena) would have taken Big Sexy (If big strikeouts are still sexy. If they ever were sexy). But the Yanks give themselves both a power threat off the bench and someone to spell Giambi against lefties.

Anything’s possible for someone in pinstripes, though Canseco’s numbers in pinstripes actually declined from his moderately respectable .257/.383/.450 line with Tampa Bay. Me, I’m not predicting much more than an occasional home run from Richie (but not in a close game; his 2008 hitting stats got better the bigger the lead was) and a whole lot of bleacher-cooling whiffs.

What will be most interesting is how the shy (I wish I could say “retiring”) Sexson will do under the hot lights of the Big Apple. The guy who was baffled at the boos he got from the relatively friendly, forgiving Safeco crowds may break into spontaneous sobs when the Yankee faithful start to give him The Business after a few of those colossal strikeouts.

Even though he’s a P-town native, I was hoping we’d seen the last of Sexson in the bigs, but it looks like he’ll still be around for other teams to boo, too. Whether he makes it or not shouldn’t concern Seattle fans, however, as he was a cancer we were well to get rid of. If he thrives somewhere else, at least it won’t be at the cost of any pennant hopes for the Mariners.

Speaking of a complete lack of pennant hope, in other Mariner news, the team today called up Bryan LaHair, their slugging first baseman, from Tacoma. He’s done well at AAA, but is considered more of a platoon player at this point. For this season, he’s hitting .269/.392/.529 against righties, but only .183/.227/.254 against lefties. Let’s hope that the Mariners give him the chance they haven’t given Jeremy Reed: to see if he can become a complete hitter at the major-league level.

As I ranted in one of my earlier posts, the idea of platooning a young player like Reed (or LaHair) is admitting defeat during a season when we should be trying out players in different spots and situations. Yes, the Reed/Bloomquist platoon is “working,” in the sense that they’re producing well, but at what cost? Reed will now be branded as a permanent platooner, which not only sucks up a roster spot, it adds some instability into the lineup, as there will be a different guy in center, and in the batting order, every few games. Does production for this year matter, when weighed against the long-term development of Jeremy Reed?

Let’s hope that Mariner management allows LaHair some time to feel his way out, realizing that wins and losses mean next to nothing this season. It would be nice to avoid the ignominy of being the only $100-million team to lose 100 games, but that’s not only irrelevant to the long-term success of the club, it’s something that can be blamed largely on Bill “Big Bucks” Bavasi. He’s the one who threw big contracts at every guy who could walk, gambling that one of them would either continue his recent career-year stats (Beltre), resurrect a fading career (Sexson, Vidro), or suddenly reverse a history of mediocrity (Washburn). None of them did, but the lack of return on Bavasi’s bucks in not the fault—or the concern—of any other player on the team.

What other Mariners are paid means next to nothing to the new kids in the system, except that Bavasi’s overspending ways means there won’t be as much money for them down the road (and presumably less tolerance for big-dollar Mariner contracts). They should forget the money being paid to certain guys, or what the stats say about a certain player. Raul Ibanez has been someone who’s long outshined predictions of his early demise, and who has not only earned his relatively modest paycheck, but made naysayers out of those (like, I will admit, me) who thought he was done with.

Put the guys out there and let them play and learn without overmanaging them, Riggelman. Let Reed and LaHair try and hit lefties. Let Wladimir Balentien, currently working out his kinks in the minors, try to do so at the major-league level. Trade away your productive vets and release the unproductive ones. Wipe the slate clean and pretend that nothing matters this year except for next year, and every year to follow. Pretend it’s spring training—because, frankly, the games mean about as much now as they do then.

Let the kids play and see what you’ve got.