The Baltimore Orioles have a hole at first base, but plugging it with an albatross doesn't seem like the best choice. Apparently they disagree with that sentiment, because they've reportedly had some discussion with the agent of Richie Sexson. Hey, I can see that ... you just lost out on Mark Teixeira so you go out and please the fans by bringing in a guy the Mariners cut last season. That's really like the same player, no? The Orioles fans should be pumped.
After a promising beginning to his career -- where he was a stud for five seasons -- Sexson has virtually evaporated over the past two seasons. He even -- according to several reports -- became a bad clubhouse guy in his last days in Seattle. We're talking about a guy who went .221/.321/.382 last season in stints with the Mariners and Yankees. He was 33 years old. I guess I could see a lowly team like the O's signing him to a cheap, incredibly incentive-laden contract with the desperate hope that he returns to his 45-homer form.
Still, going into the season with Richie Sexson as your starting first baseman is like waving a white flag, especially when you are competing with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays.
Seeing as how the Mariners really suck this season, I've kind of stopped paying attention to them. Of course, because of that, I forgot just how bad the team really is. Thankfully the three games I just saw them play against the White Sox in Chicago this week reaffirmed everything I previously knew.
One of the reasons the Mariners are so horrible this season can be attributed to the Erik Bedard trade. The Mariners sent Adam Jones, George Sherrill, the Space Needle, and majority ownership in Starbucks to Baltimore for the southpaw. While a lot of people thought the addition of Bedard would help the Mariners win the AL West (I only had them as the wild card, so I guess that makes me slightly less stupid), thanks to his injuries and ineffectiveness, they're fighting just to avoid 100 losses this season.
Bedard cost the Mariners their season, and the jobs of John McLaren and Bill Bavasi. Fortunately for all involved, the odds of Erik returning this season to claim the livelihoods of others are slim at best.
Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and [Jim] Riggleman both say that Bedard did not come out of his last throwing session feeling well, as he had in previous outings.
Nine and a half games in back of the A.L. East leader and six and a half games out of the wild card spot is a very un-Yankee like place to be. And it's making the Yankees do some very un-Yankee like things.
But this is the New York Yankees we're talking about ... they never do things like this. And certainly they've proven lately that every time the baseball world buries the Yankees, they rise from the beyond and make everybody eat their words. Releasing Sexson and ... more telling ... sending a guy who's been up in the majors for two and a half seasons back down to the minors can be construed as a message to the rest of the roster to say "Hey, nobody's giving up ... and if you don't believe that, you'll be in the minors along with Melky."
But I'm not going to pretend to know what anybody in the Yankees' hierarchy is thinking, least of all Hank. Because at the end of the day with this team being where it is, any message that is being or isn't being sent isn't going to bring Joba Chamberlain, Chien-Ming Wang, or Jorge Posada off the DL. It may pick up some of the performances of the players on the roster, but how much? So while the season certainly is long from over, today's moves is an admission that the reaper grows closer.
We've already discussed the implications of the C.C. Sabathia and Rich Harden trades here on Fantasy FanHouse, but what about the other names that recently found new homes?
Joe Blanton Much like Harden, Blanton's going to go through a whole new experience when he pitches in front of a boisterous packed house tonight. He's going to get a nice trial by fire as the Phillies face the Mets and Braves this week -- Blanton's a two-start pitcher. Look for the change of league to ignite Blanton. He was too good a pitcher to keep scuffling along with such a poor record (5-12) and ERA (4.96) anyway. Now is the time to trade for him, because his stock will never be lower. The ERA was a full run lower last season, and he had a nice 140/40 K/BB. This season he's partially having issues because of his control. He's only sporting a 62/35 K/BB in a little more than half the innings as last year. As I said, the change of league will help ... facing a whole batch of new hitters is always advantageous to the pitcher. His turn-around starts tonight.
New York City isn't the easiest place in the world to find a place to drink ice cold beers at rock bottom prices. Perhaps that will change if some enterprising entrepreneur steals an idea from Seattle and pegs prices to Richie Sexson's batting average. The erstwhile Mariner first baseman has agreed to join the Yankees and will be in uniform on Saturday at the latest.
Despite Sexson's putrid overall numbers, there's reason to think his signing could help the Yankees in the second half. He'll give them another righty bat to throw out when facing southpaws and he still does a very good job against them. He's hitting .344 with a 1066 OPS against lefties this season and should fit well into a Yankee lineup that is overloaded with lefty swingers.
Signing Sexson won't be enough of a salve for a struggling Yankee offense, especially if Hideki Matsui is out for the season, but he's a no risk attempt at a shot in the arm. The Yankees will only have to pay him a pro-rated portion of the minimum salary, approximately $161,000. When you're already spending in the neighborhood of $200 million, it's hard to get your knickers in a twist about that sum.
One of ex-GM Bill Bavasi's signature blunders was signing Sexson to a four-year, $50 million contract before the 2005 season. Sexson had a good first season, an okay 2006 before falling off the cliff last year and never climbing back up. Sexson was hitting .218 with 11 homers, 76 strikeouts and an OPS of 696 this season.
"We felt that at this time it was in the best interest of the ballclub, and in Richie's best interest, to make this move" GM Lee Pelekoudas said in a statement released by the team.
I don't know if it's in Sexson's best interests. It's hard to see too many other teams lining up for a chance to pay him good money. Since it appears the likely beneficiary of playing time at first base is Miguel Cairo, however, it's not a clear plus to the team either. The Mariners aren't any better today because Sexson is off the team. They aren't any worse, though, and right now that's a step in the right direction for a team that needs a total overhaul.
No word on whether or not Seattle alcoholics will now be rooting for Kenji Johjima and Jose Vidro to continue stinking up Safeco Field.
Baseball parks have long been a great place to meet somebody, whether you're a man or a woman. If you meet somebody at a game, you already know you have a common interest with them, so you've got your icebreaker right there. The seemingly never ending flow of beer doesn't hurt much either, of course.
If you're single and still looking for that special someone, or even that special person for the next few hours, I highly recommend going to a baseball game to find them. Just make sure you aren't going to SafeCo Field. Don't be fooled by the lesbian make-out sessions, because that place is a ghost town these days.
Among the several casualties of this dismal Mariners season -- Jeff Pentland's job, Richie Sexson's career, the fantasy team of anyone who drafted J.J. Putz -- is the singles scene at Safeco Field.
The scene is dead for one simple reason (which is practically a natural law): Women don't like losers.
I say this with the certainty of someone who went on several dates while unemployed and living at my parents' house. Eventually the girl would learn the gravity of my situation, and then (evidently) lose my phone number.
The Mariners -- who also live in the basement and rarely score -- are just as unattractive to women. At least that's what I conclude from the looks of Safeco Field's Hit It Here Cafe on a couple of recent nights.
As Mr. Watson told you yesterday, the Seattle Mariners finally went ahead and did what we'd all been waiting for them to do for a few weeks now: they fired general managerBill Bavasi. In other words, Monday was probably the best day that Seattle sports fans have had in a while, and a cause for celebration.
With the pending move of the Sonics, and the Mariners struggles this season, there hasn't been much to cheer about in the Emerald City lately. Still, while there's some debate in New York about the Mets firing Willie Randolph (was it deserved? did they go about it the right way? etc.), I don't think there's much debate amongst Mariners fans about how they feel for this move. If they're upset about anything, it's probably that Bavasi was the only one to go and that the team can't fire Richie Sexson.
As Watson mentioned in his post yesterday, Bavasi's tenure in Seattle is not one littered with success. He gave questionable contracts to Sexson, Carlos Silva, and Adrian Beltre (though I think Beltre has been a good addition to the club), actually gave Jeff Weaver $8 million to suck for a season, and made trades like sending Carlos Guillen to Detroit for Ramon Santiago. Those are some devastating moves, and yet, that's only part of what Bavasi did to help bring this organization down.
The Mariners will be finishing up a six-game road trip this afternoon at Yankee Stadium, and they'll be hoping to avoid going 0-6. Still, you have to wonder, despite the fact that they haven't won a game on this trip, do they really even want to go back home to Seattle? At least while they're in New York, the home fans can't kill them, so they're safer on the road.
There's probably also some fear in manager John McLaren and general manager Bill Bavasi that they may not hold those titles for much longer. The fans wouldn't exactly cry themselves to sleep at night knowing those two were gone, and they may be getting their wish soon as both have received the dreaded votes of confidence from team president Chuck Armstrong.
"Their positions are secure," Armstrong told MLB.com from his Bellevue, Wash., home. "They are not to be blamed for what's going on.
"In my 23 years, I have never ever seen anything like this. We saw it the other way in 2001. I mean, you have to ask yourself, 'How did the Mariners win 116 games that season with that roster, compared to this roster?' This is just as inexplicable the other way."
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups
Texas Rangers (19-21) vs. Seattle Mariners (15-25) - 8:05PM Est.
Let's start today's On Deck by taking a trip in the FanHouse Time Machine. We're going to go all the way back to May 8th, 2008. The world was a different place back then. Ok, so the world was really any different as all, as it was just five days ago, but it was sort of exciting!
That was the day when Richie Sexson threw his helmet and charged Kason Gabbard after taking exception to a pitch. Sexson thought that Gabbard's eye-high fastball was meant for his face even though it was over the heart of the plate, and he took umbrage. Of course, had Felix Hernandez not plunked Ian Kinsler earlier in the game after Kinsler homered, none of this would have happened.
Now, here we are five days later, and Gabbard and Hernandez are set to face each other one more time. Will we have an encore?
The Baltimore Orioles have a hole at first base, but plugging it with an albatross doesn't seem like the best choice. Apparently they disagree with that sentiment, because they've reportedly had some discussion with the agent of Richie Sexson. Hey, I can see that ... you just lost out on Mark Teixeira so you go out and please the fans by bringing in a guy the Mariners cut last season. That's really like the same player, no? The Orioles fans should be pumped. 
Seeing as how the Mariners really suck this season, I've kind of stopped paying attention to them. Of course, because of that, I forgot just how bad the team really is. Thankfully the three games I just saw them play against the White Sox in Chicago this week reaffirmed everything I previously knew.
Nine and a half games in back of the A.L. East leader and six and a half games out of the wild card spot is a very un-Yankee like place to be. And it's making the Yankees do some very un-Yankee like things.
We've already discussed the implications of the C.C. Sabathia and Rich Harden trades here on Fantasy FanHouse, but what about the other names that recently found new homes? 
New York City isn't the easiest place in the world to find a place to drink ice cold beers at rock bottom prices. Perhaps that will change if some enterprising entrepreneur steals an idea from Seattle and pegs prices to 
Baseball parks have long been a great place to meet somebody, whether you're a man or a woman. If you meet somebody at a game, you already know you have a common interest with them, so you've got your icebreaker right there. The seemingly never ending flow of beer doesn't hurt much either, of course.
As 
The Mariners will be finishing up a six-game road trip this afternoon at Yankee Stadium, and they'll be hoping to avoid going 0-6. Still, you have to wonder, despite the fact that they haven't won a game on this trip, do they really even want to go back home to Seattle? At least while they're in New York, the home fans can't kill them, so they're safer on the road.
