Cashman busts a move

The Yankees added another player to their bench today when they signed the recently released Richie Sexson to be the right-handed complement to Senor Stache over at first base.

Sexson fits in New York because the Yankees needed a right-handed slugger to match up against left-handed pitching -- and Sexson had a .344 average with five home runs in 71 at-bats against lefties this year.

Assuming the deal is completed, he'll be in the lineup Saturday against Oakland.

The Yankees will have to pay Sexson only the prorated minimum of $390,000 from his $14 million salary with the Mariners. Seattle is eating the remainder of the nearly $6 million Sexson is owed for the season.

Sexson was batting .218 with just 30 RBIs in 74 games when the Mariners cut him loose, on July 10. He hit a career-worst .205 with 21 homers and 100 strikeouts in 2007.

Sexson's woes with the bat have been well documented, however a small change in his batting stance led him to produce slightly better. He is not a viable starter because he can barely outhit Shelly Duncan, but is definitely an above average backup at this point in his career. Also, the fact that he is better defensively than Giambi (this is not saying much as the Stache has what can best be described as "fall down range") and Wilson Betemit (ewwww) makes him a nice addition to the bench. On the whole, a pretty solid signing to bolster the reserves. Who knows, maybe Sexson goes on a little hot streak and alleviates the loss of Matsui. Then again maybe Red Sox fans will stop hating black people.

One thing remains certain, Sexson will never be able to top the awesome that is Jason Giambi.

Glug, glug, glug.