Schmuck: O's interested in Sexson

[Elbren]

Obviously, I'm in the minority here, but (depending on the contract) I actually wouldn't have a problem with Sexson at 1B. His numbers have been going downhill in recent years, but he was an all-or-nothing swinger in one of the biggest parks in MLB and had next to nothing around him in the lineup.

Not exactly a good formula for success.

I wouldn't mind seeing what he could do in a more hitter friendly environment like Camden Yards with decent bats around him in the lineup. While I wouldn't expect the Richie Sexson of old, I could easily see him putting up a .260 AVG, 30 HR's and 100 RBI's.

[weams]

They would give him a parade with those type of numbers.

[SilentJames]

Obviously, I'm in the minority here, but (depending on the contract) I actually wouldn't have a problem with Sexson at 1B. His numbers have been going downhill in recent years, but he was an all-or-nothing swinger in one of the biggest parks in MLB and had next to nothing around him in the lineup.

Not exactly a good formula for success.

I wouldn't mind seeing what he could do in a more hitter friendly environment like Camden Yards with decent bats around him in the lineup. While I wouldn't expect the Richie Sexson of old, I could easily see him putting up a .260 AVG, 30 HR's and 100 RBI's.

Not much of a chance on that one.

[Elbren]

Not much of a chance on that one.

I'm not so sure of that.

His home/road splits are pretty drastic from last season (.547 OPS vs .863) and his numbers all seemed to improve with his move to NY (albiet, in limited playing time) I would never expect him to light up the world with his AVG or OBP, but I don't think 28 - 30 HR's isn't that far of a stretch. He may not hit 100 RBI's, but with Roberts, Jones and Markakis in front of him, I can't imagine that he wouldn't come close.

[DrungoHazewood]

Obviously, I'm in the minority here, but (depending on the contract) I actually wouldn't have a problem with Sexson at 1B. His numbers have been going downhill in recent years, but he was an all-or-nothing swinger in one of the biggest parks in MLB and had next to nothing around him in the lineup.

Not exactly a good formula for success.

I wouldn't mind seeing what he could do in a more hitter friendly environment like Camden Yards with decent bats around him in the lineup. While I wouldn't expect the Richie Sexson of old, I could easily see him putting up a .260 AVG, 30 HR's and 100 RBI's.

I think the only place a 34-year-old Richie Sexson puts up a season like that is the Atlantic League. Or maybe the Northern League. He hasn't slugged .400 since 2006.

[DrungoHazewood]

I would never expect him to light up the world with his AVG or OBP, but I don't think 28 - 30 HR's isn't that far of a stretch. He may not hit 100 RBI's, but with Roberts, Jones and Markakis in front of him, I can't imagine that he wouldn't come close.

Maybe in a Tony Bautista, anybody-could-get-100-RBI-with-700-PAs-and-good-players-in-front-of-him kind of way. That's certainly not a positive mark for Richie Sexson. It's basically calling him a warm body that's one of the 700 or 800 best hitters in the world.

[RVAbird]

Obviously, I'm in the minority here, but (depending on the contract) I actually wouldn't have a problem with Sexson at 1B. His numbers have been going downhill in recent years, but he was an all-or-nothing swinger in one of the biggest parks in MLB and had next to nothing around him in the lineup.

Not exactly a good formula for success.

I wouldn't mind seeing what he could do in a more hitter friendly environment like Camden Yards with decent bats around him in the lineup. While I wouldn't expect the Richie Sexson of old, I could easily see him putting up a .260 AVG, 30 HR's and 100 RBI's.

Setting aside all the convincing reasons that this is highly unlikely, I'll just ask, again, so what? So what if he provides a 900 OPS for a year? What long term value does that provide? Why does it justify blocking Reimold for another year?

[olehippi]

How long have you been here?

Even the most miniscule of things are hashed out here and complained about to no end.

Long enough to know better.....

Thought I'd check back on the thread....and you called it -- 9 pages and still going.

Wouldn't it be great if our cars could run on "speculation." Just dump an OH thread or two in the tank and off you go....

[SrMeowMeow]

Damn it. MacPhail is such an idiot. He'll sign Sexson to some awful contract and forget all about a long-term solution for 1B.

I hate being an O's fan! This front office has now personally betrayed me. The least they could do, having failed to sign Teixeira, is trade for him.

[T2E2C]

A couple years ago the Seattle fans really started to get on Sexson for his poor play, and were booing him during every at-bat. Sexson didn't understand this, and went to the manager and asked "Why are they booing me?" The manager replied by saying "Well, you're hitting .200." A little while later, the manager started taking Sexson out of the lineup on a regular basis. Sexson asked the manager "Why are you taking me out of the lineup?" The manager said "You're still hitting .200."

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:UiTkwX6YyIMJ:www.sameoldcrew.com/forums/showthread.php%3Ft%3D9214+sexson+%22why+are+they+booing+me%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

Sorry the link above is from a message board. There was an original link citing Kurkjian months ago but no longer.

[markpolis]

Damn it. MacPhail is such an idiot. He'll sign Sexson to some awful contract and forget all about a long-term solution for 1B.

I hate being an O's fan! This front office has now personally betrayed me. The least they could do, having failed to sign Teixeira, is trade for him.

O...K... I can see that someone has started their New Year's Celebration a bit early. :beerchug1:

[TakebackOPACY]

I had been thinking my 1000th post would be more meaningful, but I have to chime in on the supposed 'interest' in Richie Sexson.

Well, all we know is that according to Schmuck, club officials had apparently had contact with his agent. Who knows where Schmuck got that information, and even he himself says that he doesn't know how serious they are.

Roch seems to think Schmuck got this little tidbit from Zrebiec. "Jeff Zrebiec heard this during his round of calls. We spoke earlier tonight. I don't think anything will come of it." (Down in the comments section.) Yet it wasn't worthy of one of Zrebiec's columns (yet, at least). It was only worthy of a blog, and even the blog entry qualified it by stating, "the depth of their interest is uncertain."

What I don't understand is why this information was even given to the press. It's bad enough that they are considering Sexon, but to release the information lacks forethought completely. This is the sort of move that you don't announce until it's done and then are absolutely prepared to explain why you made such a bone-headed mistake. If it was provided to Schmuck deliberately, then it seems it must be because they wanted to gauge the fans' responses. This just makes no sense. The Orioles' FO right now is a PR catastrophe. They have no understanding on how to appease or appeal to their fan-base, their consumers. They are horrific at customer service.

I agree, but am still confused why it's a good idea to publicize it.

Publicized it? With all due respect, the information probably came from CAA (Sexson's agency). If Zrebiec was able to get this tidbit out of someone in the O's front office, more power to him. Using the OH Insiders as possible evidence, people do like to talk. That said, there is no way on Earth (in my humble opinion) that the Orioles are publicizing interest in Richie Sexson. "The depth of their interest is uncertain," (Schmuck) and "I don't think anything will come of it," (Kubatko) on a couple blogs don't exactly sound like the O's are publicizing interest in this particular free agent. (Incidentally, it's pretty clear that MacPhail sees no reason to ever publicize interest in any free agent.)

I don't get a strong feeling that MacPhail has any place for a Ken Phelps All Star at $400k when there's a journeyman MLB player available at $2M.

While I agree it doesn't apply to the O's 1B Sexson/Hinske/etc situation... Sometimes you can create major league ready depth by signing the $2m veteran and having the major league ready prospect waiting in the wings at 'AAA'. Often, the alternative isn't as appealing. If we were ready to compete now, would we want to bring up Reimold and sign someone like Jason Dubois as insurance, or would we want to get a veteran and have Reimold as insurance? Maybe you'd take choice A and it would work out better than choice B. But injuries happen.

Casey Close is also the agent for Jason Jennings, Mark Redman, and John Patterson. :scratchchinhmm:

And now for the reason for my post... Casey Close just became Jeremy Guthrie's agent a few weeks ago. Of course MacPhail has talked with him recently. If your '#1 starter' just changed agents, wouldn't you talk with him? If you were an agent and you just got Jeremy Guthrie to dump Scott Boras and sign with you, wouldn't you be on the phone as regularly as possible with MacPhail? (EDIT: TGO, I quoted you here because I'm expanding on your response, not because I'm responding to or addressing you.)

Guthrie will be 30 years old for most of the 2009 season and he's still four years away from free agency. Casey Close has his work cut out for him. He must've talked pretty smoothly to get Guthrie to go with him over Boras. Meanwhile, there are three arbitration off-seasons coming up for MacPhail and Close.

Nine pages into this thread and it hasn't been addressed that this would obviously be the primary reason that Close and MacPhail might have had recent discussions. It seems logical to me that Close probably brought up Sexson and MacPhail respectfully chose not to dismiss it rudely out of hand.

I'll criticize a Sexson signing if it happens (and if it's more than a minor league deal), but I see nothing to make me think that it's more than a remote possibility at this point.

[RShack]

This is so sick.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, said the O's were "interested" in Sexson.

• Not the O's
  
• Not Schmuck.
  
• Not anybody.
  
• Except the guy who created the bogus title for this thread.

But, evidently that's all it takes for people here to go nuts and start dissing the O's about it.

It's an OH-manufactured upset. 10 pages and counting.

You know how JTrea has pretty much lost his mind since the Tex-a-thon?

Well, that's pretty much how *lots* of people are getting lately.

[DrungoHazewood]

This is so sick.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, said the O's were "interested" in Sexson.

• Not the O's
• Not Schmuck.
• Not anybody.
• Except the guy who created the bogus title for this thread.

But, evidently that's all it takes for people here to go nuts and start dissing the O's about it.

It's an OH-manufactured upset. 10 pages and counting.

You know how JTrea has pretty much lost his mind since the Tex-a-thon?

Well, that's pretty much how *lots* of people are getting lately.

Maybe you could volunteer to fact check every rumor posted here, we'll put a hold on the thread until you report back, and then you can give us the thumbs up or down on whether we can comment.

[SrMeowMeow]

O...K... I can see that someone has started their New Year's Celebration a bit early. :beerchug1:

lolz

We need a sarcasm smiley.