Tim Marchman of the NY Sun must read this blog. In a recent article for the Sun, Marchman wonders why the Yankees signed Richie Sexson, a player who wasn’t even good enough for the terrible Mariners. Even if his role is limited, Marchman argues, the role he has, as a righty with “pop” against lefties and as a late-inning defensive replacement for Jason Giambi, doesn’t seem suitable when you look at Sexson’s numbers (especially his offensive numbers outside of this year). Here’s what Marchman said:
On a per-dollar basis, Sexson has been one of the three worst players in baseball this year, behind the Dodgers’ Andruw Jones ($18.1 million for a .162 AVG/.266 OBA/.246 SLG line in 167 at bats) and San Francisco’s Barry Zito ($18 million, which works out to a million for each base runner he puts on per inning), but ahead of everyone else. Given his inept defense and atrocious baserunning, the surprise isn’t that Seattle released him despite owing him the rest of his $14 million salary, but rather that this took as long as it did.
Even stranger than that, though, is that the Yankees not only signed a player who is on all evidence totally cooked, but have signed him for a quite specific role that he quite obviously won’t be able to fill.
Friday, hours after signing with the Yankees, Sexson was in the lineup against Oakland starter Greg Smith, a lefty. Saturday, he came in for a pinch-hit at bat against Jerry Blevins, another lefty. Yesterday, while he didn’t get any at bats at all, he did come in at the top of the 9th as a defensive substitute at first base. From this, it looks as if manager Joe Girardi will be using Sexson exactly as you’d expect: as part of the ever-spinning first base carousel with a special line in lefty-mashing and late-inning defense. If a better use for Sexson than the one Seattle came up with — penciling him into the lineup every day while sighing wistfully over the long-ago days when he twice smacked 45 home runs in a season for Milwaukee — this is still ridiculous.
This year, in 65 at bats, Sexson has a fine .338/.429/.600 line against lefties. Last year, though, in 105 at bats, he hit .238/.333/.419, and the year before, in 137 at bats, he hit .204/.325/.438. Even if you arbitrarily ignore the hundreds and hundreds of at bats in which Sexson has conclusively showed that he can’t hit right-handers anymore, there is still no real reason to think he can hit left-handers at all. Either one has to believe that 65 at bats against lefties this year are more telling than everything else he’s done over a period of years; or one has to admit that his line against them this year is statistical noise.
What Marchman says in the paragraph above is exactly what I said the other day. Sexson’s numbers, outside of this year, don’t really justify his signing, or at least, not in relation to his current role (starting at 1B against lefties). Maybe if he was just a pinch-hitter, none of us would care. But, that’s not the case and Joe Girardi has said that he’ll give Sexson plenty of opportunities.
So, Will Richie Sexson be able to hit lefties throughout the year or are his numbers this year just an anomaly (as Marchman called it, “statistical noise”). You really have to wonder about him and the decision to acquire his “services”. It’s important to note that I’m not trying to make fans hate Richie Sexson or paint a terrible picture of the guy. All I’m really trying to do is wrap my head around the justification for the signing.
