On The Hot Seat: Giambi, Hafner, Sexson, Timlin

Sexson has been hitting a little better the last week or so. He has had a lot of hard hit balls which is more than I can say in his disastrous plate appearances last year and the first month of this year.

I say he has at least another 2 months with this team. There isn't a sure fire replacement ready so that my buy him more time. We have Vidro and a raw Jeff Clement. Clement has been taking some reps at 1B recently but, since he has never played the position in his life, I don't see him notching any time at 1B this year. Vidro is just awful and is a worse option at 1B than Sexson is.

The only other 1B candidate in the system is Bryan Lahair. But he is a fringe prospect having a good year at AAA. If he is promoted, the Mariners are throwing in the towel on '08.

I actually can see Sexson finishing his contract with Seattle because of the lack of options at 1B. Norton would have been the best option to usurp Sexson but he stupidly shipped off to Atlanta. I guess the M's thought Miguel Cairo a better use of a roster spot. Gotta love those defensive types that can't hit a lick. Problem is, the Mariners already have Willie Bloomquist in charge of that role. Guys like that taking up half your bench doesn't make for rounding out a winning roster.

seatle is really dumb. Last year, a team claimed sexson off waivers. Seatle could have let the team take him and pay his full salary. They would not have gotten any prospects in the deal, but they wouldn't have to deal with his salary. Someone please explain why they did not pull the trigger on this one

ahh. Good old Pete Abe. A Yankees beat blog writer with a balanced and insightful knowledge of which Red Sox pitcher is on the "hot seat." Unsurprisingly, Pete is dead wrong about Mike Timlin. Since all of his struggles have come against the Yankees (7/9 runs in 1.1/7.1 IP) it is hard to blame Pete for his errors. He does cover the Yankees and cater to Yankee fans, right. The fact that Yankee's goat Jason Giambi has 2 homeruns off Timlin is automatic reason to put him on the hot seat.
On the same token, the Red Sox have to make a roster move today. I'm guessing they don't DFA Timlin and instead option Hansen.

You guys are SO totally right. The evidence that all three of those guys were juicing is so damning. Because before substance testing came along recently, no lumbering, power-hitting first baseman ever went through a slump. I mean, how are these writers ignoring this mountain of obvious evidence staring them in the face? It's a travesty.

"At what point to we not admit the real reason Travis Hafner is struggling?"

I thought about this yesterday, and although I am not accusing him of anything, I wondered about whether he was using performance enhancers. I was watching the Indian/Yankee series and started to wonder, whats wrong with Pronk? I was ready to chalk last year up to a fluke, because in his 3 years prior, he was one of the elite all around hitters in the game. Is there some kind of nagging injury that he has been trying to play through? This is where I need somebody like darkstar, because I dont see enough of the Tribe to really know what the problem is. Shouldnt be age though, seeing as how he is only 30 years old. I know he he missed around 20-30 games a year from 04-06, but last year he stayed on the field more and produced less. I really dont know.

“Is there some kind of nagging injury that he has been trying to play through? This is where I need somebody like darkstar, because I dont see enough of the Tribe to really know what the problem is. Shouldnt be age though, seeing as how he is only 30 years old.”

The more and more it continues, the more and more I do think injury is behind it. As everyone is able to see if they watch his games, it looks like a mechanical problem. And really, how in the F*ing world can some see a blatant mechanical difference in a player and say “well obviously its steroids”? “He is approaching the ball differently, so its obvious he stopped taking PEDs” ~ how does that make sense?

Anyway, back to the point ~ what cant be forgotten is the fact that he has struggled with shoulder problems in his past. Then, he broke his hand in the last month of 2006, had leg problems in August of last year and was bothered by shoulder problems again this past preseason… Factor that against the obviously visible mechanical difference, and its only logical to think we are probably looking at a player who is constantly playing with some sort of pain or discomfort which is forcing him to make the adjustments that lead to the difference in his swing. The mental aspect probably needs to be taken into account a bit as well, as his struggles have lead to him looking like he is trying to do too much to compensate, further compounding the problem.

Lastly, the player he has most resembled for his entire career is Boog Powell ~ a player who didn’t take well to turning 30…

“I understand your point, but there's a big mother of an elephant in the room and a lot of "sluggers" whose numbers are plummeting. I'm not saying Hafner IS one of the 'roiders, but he fits the profile enough that I'd hesitate before dismissing it out of hand.”

…See, I just don’t see logic in looking at everyone with the “you are probably a juicer and I think I can prove it” eye ~ esp in the face of other factors. To me, thats like saying “Jeff Bagwell was obviously a user because he struggled and retired when they began testing…” Believe it or not, sluggers can have problems outside of steroids. Witch-hunts never solve anything, and generally bring about more problems then anything else…

BTW ~ more pitchers and speedsters have been caught using PEDs than sluggers. Why is that if it’s the power outage that is the visible indication of steroids being taken out of the game? How about all the pitchers having horrible control problems, can we call all of them PED users too? Verlander, CC, Hill, etc ~ obviously all juicers…