By: Big Rygg

Wasn’t there a guy on the Milwaukee Brewers a few years back that we traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks? I think we got, like, six players for him or something like that…

Sounds familiar…let’s see, I think it was Junior Spivey, Craig Counsell, Jorge De La Rosa, Chad Moeller-cycle, Chris Capuano and Lyle Overbay (that’s six, right?). Yeah, we’ve spun a few of those guys off in the years since and released another. Only Chris Capuano is still with the team, but that trade happened, right?

That guy is currently hitting in the teen-range of the .200s with nine home runs, 60+ strikeouts, 20 something RBIs. He also beats the snot out of southpaw pitchers and sucks hard against righties.

We traded that guy, right?

Then why do I see him on the Milwaukee Brewers’ 25-man roster right now?

 

 

Confused? Allow me to clarify…

A buddy of mine at work is a Seattle Mariners fan. I feel bad for him too. When I see news about the Mariners on the internet, I’ll pass him along a link from time to time. I broke him the news about Bill Bavasi’s firing which he was ecstatic about. “About (EXPLETIVE DELTED) time.” was his response.

I saw an article today about one Richmond Lockwood Sexson and the fact that he might simply be cut by the Mariners and their new GM. He’s in the last season of his contract anyway and since he’s played fairly horribly for them over the past two seasons, he isn’t going to be resigned. Also, since he’s playing terribly this year so far, nobody is going to give the Mariners anything in trade at this point.

Well, in that article over about our affiliate site MLB.com (maybe you’ve heard of it), there was some dialogue about his statistics to this point in the year. He said “man, those sound familiar”. He checked into the Brewers players’ statistics and lo and behold but who does he find on the Brewer roster? Richie Sexson masquerading as a part-time third baseman!!! He’s slouching about 8 inches, and somehow hiding about 60 lbs, but that’s him!

Shocked? My friend is out of his mind? Here’s the stat line comparison for 2008:

Sexson: 201 ABs, 44 H, .219 AVG, .295 OBP, 21 R, 9 HR, 23 RBI, 22 BB, 65 K
Hall: 213 ABs, 46 H, .216 AVG, .285 OBP, 22 R, 9 HR, 25 RBI, 18 BB, 60 K

Need more convincing that it’s a Sexson in Hall clothing? Here are the righty-lefty splits for 2008:

Sexson (vs. lefties): 43 AB, 15 H, .349 AVG, .417 OBP, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 9 K
Hall (vs. lefties): 60 AB, 22 H, .367 AVG, .435 OBP, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 13 K

Sexson (vs. righties): 158 AB, 29 H, .184 AVG, .261 OBP, 6 HR, 17 RBI, 56 K
Hall (vs. righties): 153 AB, 24 H, .157 AVG, .223 OBP, 6 HR, 17 RBI, 47 K

That’s eerie folks.

But allow me to get back to the onus of this post…Sexson might be cut outright by the Seattle Mariners, the team with the worst record in the majors. The team with the worst record in the majors and nothing really to gain by cutting Sexson might swallow the remainder of his contract and just cut bait. Oh, and before you think they have some top prospect knocking on the door at AAA? Their starting catcher Kenji Johjima has been taking ground balls at first base.

And yet…here the Milwaukee Brewers sit with one William Hall on their roster. Believe me, Hall has more value than Sexson does as he can play 3B, SS, 2B, CF and probably 1B and either corner OF spot in a pinch. He has his share of errors, but Bill Hall is no Jose Oquendo, okay?

But is the offensive deficiency enough to warrant some sort of off-the-wall move like the Mariners are considering with Sexson?

Personally, I’m a Brewer supporter and that includes the players as individuals. I think Hall offers more to us on our roster than off of it, but I’m putting the question out there to Brewer Nation to get your thoughts on it.

Should the Brewers follow suit (assuming the Mariners go through with it) and cut Bill Hall from the roster outright?