Richie Sexson at First?

In the off season prior to the 2005 season, the Seattle Mariners tried to make a big splash by signing two big free agent bats. Unfortunately for them, those two bats happened to be Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson. Neither of the two hitters have lived up to the contracts they signed and now both have become subjects of trade rumors. Adrian Beltre was a potential trade target of the Yankees before A-Rod was brought back, but now there is no need for him. Sexson, on the other hand, would still fill a large hole the Yankees have at first base. There are plenty of positives and negatives for brining Sexson in to finally give the Yankees some stability at first base. The obvious big negative is the fact that Sexson hit just .205 with 21 HR’s and 63 RBI’s and battled a nagging hamstring injury through much of the second half of the year. However, the big right hander has produced in the not so distant past. He’s hit 30 or more home runs in a season six times, and as recently as in 2006. Sexson will be 33 years old in December and still has an encombersome contract, so why should the Yankees want him? Well, they could see this as an opportunity to buy low on Sexson, as the Mariners attempted to place him through waivers although he did not clear. At age 33, there’s certainly reason to believe that he can rebound from last season, although even if he did the Yankees would still have to deal with his other shortcomings. Sexson strikes out a ton, never hits for average, and even though he is a big target he is nothing special defensively at first base. Since the Mariners were willing to attempt to send him through waivers, there asking price for Sexson is likely very cheap. It may even be possible that he can be had for Tyler Clippard alone (who seems to have fallen heavily out of favor with the Yankees). Basically, the only pros for Sexson are that he could come cheap in a trade and rebound and there are virtually no other options out there. Any trades for a better first baseman (like Justin Morneau) would require giving up prospects the Yankees are trying to stockpile for Santana and free agency yields no intriguing answers. Still, his underwhelming performance last season as well as his contract still leave the Yankees better off going with their own in house options of Wilson Betemit, Andy Phillips, Jason Giambi, and Shelly Duncan and possibly bringing Doug Mientkiewicz back into the mix. The Yankees have pieced first base together for the past few years and it seems like they will have to do the same for 2008.