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Frank Thomas is out there, résumé in hand, job searching everywhere but Monster.com, and there seems to be a perfect fit for him in Seattle.
Of course, maybe the Mariners' need wouldn't -- or won't -- be so gaping this summer if a certain long, lanky first baseman recovers his game from the bottom of Puget Sound.
Yes, Richie Sexson smashed three homers over the weekend in Anaheim -- and he would have had four if Gold Glover Torii Hunter hadn't robbed him to end Friday night's game.
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| Richie Sexson put up the worst numbers of his career last season. (US Presswire) |
"There's never been a point where I've felt lost this year like I did all of last year," Sexson said.
Hmmm, do you think, just maybe ... perhaps?
"He works his butt off," Mariners pitcher Jarrod Washburn said. "Nobody was more frustrated with last year than he was.
"It would be good for him and for us if he can have a rebound year."
When the Mariners teed it up to face Baltimore in the opener of a three-game series at Safeco Field on Tuesday night, Sexson's batting average was still a relatively anemic .231 (he finished last season at .205). But his on-base percentage was up to .367 (.295 last year), and his bat definitely seemed to be stirring after another early-season funk earned Sexson a day off last Thursday in Oakland.
Then he went 0-for-4 in Seattle's 4-2 win Tuesday night, watched his batting average shrink to .217, whiffed twice and, well. ...
"He's been working so hard," McLaren said. "He's swinging at good pitches, working the count ... if you look at his Aprils year-in and year-out, they're really not much to write home about.
"We knew if he didn't come out of the box this April, everybody would say it's the same old thing."
The two strikeouts in Tuesday's homestand opener sure looked like it. But, before that, in another sign of life, the man who fanned 100 times last season against only 51 walks already had taken 14 free passes in 2008, tied for fifth in the AL, and had fanned only 18 times. He has walked at least once in 11 of his past 17 games.
That the end of his albatross of a contract is in sight -- he's earning $14 million in this, the deal's final season -- can't be anything but a welcome development.
If Sexson puts together a classic contract-drive season, well, the Mariners could reach the postseason for the first time since 2001.
If he doesn't, well, Mariners fans are more excited about Sexson's deal expiring than they are about their own Christmas or birthday presents.
"I want to have a great April," Sexson said. "And be on track for my career numbers."
It's one thing when April alone is the cruelest month and, as McLaren noted, it often is for Sexson. In nine major league seasons, his lifetime April average is .235, and his 42 homers (entering this season) were his lowest total for any month.
Last season, though, May, June, July, August and September were just as cruel. Not that the guy was hopelessly lost, but by season's end, a special Mariners-commissioned search party was scouring Mt. Rainier, Pike Place Market and even the original Starbucks looking for any hint of Sexson's bat.
"Everything went wrong last year," McLaren said. "Anything you write is probably right."
Dangerous leeway to give a guy with a pen, notebook and laptop. But there's no arguing with the numbers: Signed away from Arizona before the 2005 season, Sexson slammed 39 homers and collected 121 RBI during his debut season in Seattle -- then smacked 34 with 107 RBI in '06 before tailing off to 21 and 63 (to go with that wretched .205 batting average) last year.
"I hit a little more this offseason, and I started hitting earlier," Sexson said. "I don't want to have the type of April I've had. I want to get off to a good start. I think that would be big for me."
Usually, he doesn't start swinging a bat until after New Year's Day.
Last winter, he was in the cages by early November.
And something else about Seattle's favorite target for boos.
"He came for FanFest in January," McLaren said. "I thought that was impressive. He didn't have to be there."
"That wasn't that big a deal," Sexson said. "People thought it was. But it's not like it was their fault I hit .200 last year. It's not their fault I had a poor year.
"I don't hold a grudge against them (for booing). I live there."
It has been difficult for the Mariners themselves to watch the meltdown of this one-time big stick.
"No question," Washburn said. "Especially with the success he's had in his past. You get into a mental funk and start beating yourself up, digging a hole ... it's hard to climb out of that."
Thus, enter Thomas into the baseball conversation at every corner coffee joint in Seattle since the Blue Jays released him Sunday. More importantly, into the internal discussions at the Mariners' offices.
Does Thomas, another notorious slow starter, have anything left? Has his bat slowed for good, or is he simply still in tuneup mode?
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While Seattle hung around the playoff chase late into last season, in the AL West only Oakland scored fewer than the Mariners' 794 runs in 2007. There is no question this is a lineup that needs a heavy jolt of caffeine. Jose Vidro (six homers in 147 games last season) is the designated hitter, for crying out loud.
With or without Thomas, Sexson -- 6-feet-8, 33 years old and sitting at 299 career homers -- can make a significant impact.
Positively, or as the Mariners saw first-hand last season, negatively.
Sexson, at this point, has moved on from 2007.
"I'm done with last year," he said.
And regarding his chronically sore left shoulder -- he had surgery in May 2004, to repair a torn labrum -- well, don't bring that up, either.
"I'm not going to go there," he said. "People don't want to hear it. As a player, they pay you a lot of money to go play. If you can walk, if you can do something at 80 percent, you should go try."
You expect a manager to back a player, but when McLaren talks about Sexson, he sure sounds like more than just a salesman pitching another product. There's belief in his voice, resolve in his eyes.
"The way he carried himself this spring in drills," McLaren said. "There were certain drills where you're supposed to be some place at the end, but it's no big deal if you're not. But he was busting his ass to get there.
"He's taken some bases on balls at big times in games this year. He works the count. He works real hard in the cage with (hitting coach) Jeff Pentland.
"He got some humble pie last year, he really did. It's tough when you're home folks are getting on you."
Six of Seattle's final eight games this month are at home, beginning with this three-game series with Baltimore. Perhaps it's not too late to change public opinion. Maybe Sexson, after a winter of work, still can find one last gasp.
"I still think he's got a lot of baseball left," McLaren says. "He's still strong. He's still got bat speed, and he's still got a passion for the game."
