Sexson’s Strikeout
Dave · April 2, 2008 at 7:24 am · Filed Under Mariners, Off-topic ranting
Tie game, bases loaded, one out in the 8th inning – this is a situation the Mariners created by having Lopez lay down a sacrifice bunt, knowing the Rangers would walk Ibanez to get to Richie Sexson. This is what Richie Sexson saw:
Six pitches, all of them out of the strike zone. Joaquin Benoit did everything he possibly could to walk in the go-ahead run, and Sexson just wouldn’t let him. If the Mariners continue to hit Sexson cleanup and ask Lopez to bunt Ichiro over every time he gets on base in high leverage situations, we’re going to see this a lot – Ibanez walks and Sexson leaves the man on.
There’s just no reason a team that wants to be a contender should be hitting Richie Sexson cleanup in 2008.
I don’t remember the last time I mentioned the words “pythagorean theorem”. I also don’t remember the last time Dick Fain’s opinion mattered on anything.
There you go, pronouncing it correctly.
Larry Stone is now making things better.
The M’s management and their refusal to recognize sunk costs reminds me of a buddy I had in college. He needed money for college, so he decided to sell the car he had rather foolishly overspent on. Unfortunately, he got severely upside on his car, so rather than realize it, he just tried to sell the car for what he owed on it. Which was thousands more than it was worth. Naturally, no one bought it . . .
The M’s understand sunk costs – they just suck at evaluating talent.
is it time for a new USSM t-shirt?
per KJR, JJ has a mild costochondrital inflammation and has gone on the DL
official press release for Putz.
I still haven’t heard: why not Clement? Is he too far from major ready? Last season in 516 AAA plate appearances (455 AB) he was .275/.370/.497–I don’t know much about AAA translations, but this looks like he should do .250/.350/.450–better than Sexson and above replacement. According to The Hardball times, Sexson’s defense at 1B is among the worst in MLB. If “replacement” means “Sexson”, I think Clement could probably learn the critical ropes of 1B in about 25 AAA starts and be ready to go in Safeco by June 1st.
Wayyyyy more valuable as a catcher.
And if you’re trying to fill a short term need by frustrating a long term need…..well, you got yourself a job with the Mariner front office….
I doubt that. Replacement would probably be a considerable upgrade.
You said it, Jeff. We really have no reason to believe they won’t continue to watch him flail away at the plate for the foreseeable future. Sucks for us.
That is OK. Bavasi has a back up plan. We can just use George Sherrill in that role…
Last season in 516 AAA plate appearances (455 AB) he was .275/.370/.497–I don’t know much about AAA translations, but this looks like he should do .250/.350/.450–better than Sexson and above replacement.
He surged a lot later in the season (read: once the best AAA pitching got called up, his performance improved).
ZiPS has Clement projected at .256/.335/.431, which would be OK at C… except you have to burn his usefulness at C (another year of learning the position) to convert him into a mediocre/bad offensive 1B.
It’s just not THAT hard to find guys who can OPS .775 at 1B for cheap- the problem is the M’s don’t do a good job of it.
Oh, and Putz going down for a couple weeks… ruh-roh. The bullpen didn’t look so hot to start with. I might give serious consideration to using Batista out of the bullpen and starting Baek (who’s really not that bad a SP).
Okay, sounds like a reason to leave Clement down. I had assumed, probably wrongly, that starting at first would be consistent with catching next year.
There’s a good likelihood we’ll need to replace Kenji after this year, too, so I want Clement to be able to continue to develop as a catcher.
There are solutions out there that would let the Mariners replace Sexson with a less sucktastic option, but first they have to realize that he’s sucktastic and commit to solving the problem.