Finally. It's Shabbat come early this week, and the Mariners have--finally--waived Richie Sexson. I assume that this SGB post from Sunday is what finally convinced the (interim) powers that be that Sexson sucks it.
The move raises two questions:
1. What do they do with first base? If the answer has the word Cairo in it, I will climb Mt. Baker with Moisture Fetch and stay at the top forever. Look, we're rebuilding. We don't have anything to rebuild around, but right now that's a detail. Balentien is what we've got, and we need to give him a chance to play every day, like we're (finally, after flip-flopping) giving Clement, sort of. Move Ibanez to DH, move Clement to first, and put Balentien in left. Or give Jeremy Reed another try. At least he was born in the 1980s. But this is a great opportunity to give a young guy some time while getting Ibanez out of left field before he does any more damage.
2. What in the name of Dave Kingman/Gormon Thomas/Rob Deer happened to Richie Sexson? From 1998 to 2006, he slugged .500 every year. Last year, .399. This year, .381, lower than Chipper Jones's batting average. I'm tempted to bring up steroids, but he still hits the occasional moonshot. The guy's got power, that's for sure. But there aren't many power hitters who completely implode at the age of 32. Whatever the reason, I won't miss him or his douchebag hair. I will miss the pursuit of the Richie Sexson hat trick: strikeout swinging, strikeout looking, double play, infield pop.
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1 comment:
Good post. I disagree that steroids had any part in Sexson's decline as a hitter. Even in his good years, he was an all-or-nothing type hitter and those type of guys don't age well. The record books are littered with once great power hitters who decline rapidly once they hit 32 or 33. Dale Murphy, Darryl Strawberry and Cecil Fielder are prime examples.
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