It was certainly refreshing to see Seattle’s willingness to admit a mistake even before the conclusion of the season’s first month.  Rich Aurillia stuck around until July 9th in 2004, Bret Boone until July 2nd in 2005, Carl Everett until July 25th in 2006, and Scott Spiezio somehow made it through 141 games over two seasons between 2004 and 2005.

This year Brad Wilkerson was DFA’d and Jose Vidro’s playing time was significantly cut on April 30th.  Maybe the organization learned from their mistakes, or maybe the decision was easy with such high-caliber prospects waiting in AAA, but either way Jeff Clement and Wladimir Balentien are on Seattle’s 25-man roster and their a better team because of it.

In just one game Bad Wlad nearly outproduced a month’s worth of Seattle right fielders, and while these two former top prospects will undoubtedly help out, they cannot save this team alone.  They’re rookies, remember?  Adam Jones, Seattle’s former “savior” and top prospect, put up a line of .258/.300/.387 with 23 strikeouts in his first month (26 games) as a regular starter this year.  Will these be the type of numbers he puts up in a year or two from now?  Most people would guess against that.

Clement is a better hitter than Wlad.  He’s smarter at the plate, uses the whole field, strikes out less and walks more.  Wlad, while improving by leaps and bounds the last couple of seasons, is still a guess hitter at times and is going to have his fair share of whiffs.  So what can we expect from these two?

For Clement, Prospect Insider is projecting a .270/.330/.450 line while USSM is guessing .270/.350/.470.  Wlad garners projections of .250/.300/.420 and .240/.300/.390 from these two, and I think either player could land somewhere in the middle of the two, though I think Wlad could have a lower average.  By the way, all four projections could be viewed as generous for a rookie, but I think they’re about right.  Either way, these two are going to need some help in the middle of the order if Seattle is going to contend.

Richie Sexson has shown signs of rebounding from his embarrassing 2007 campaign, but hasn’t been consistent.  Is he the next to go?  Unfortunately, it’s much easier to DFA a guy like Brad Wilkerson who was only owed a couple million than it is to cut Sexson, who is still owed $14M in the final year of his contract.  Even if Seattle somehow found a trading partner they’d still have to eat most of his contract.

Benching Sexson wouldn’t make a ton of sense either.  With the way the current bench is setup, where does he fit in?  Jose Vidro, Miguel Cairo and Willie Bloomquist can all play first base, and Vidro makes more sense than Sexson as a pinch hitter due to his switch hitting abilities and higher contact rates.  When Seattle signed Sexson they said he would see some time in the outfield, but I imagine he would be a slightly taller, much slower and uncoordinated version of Mike Morse out there.

Sexson is probably staying put, for now, unless Seattle finally gets frustrated enough to eat their mistake.  As awful as he has been, Sexson was the best of Seattle’s razztastic four (Vidro, Sexson, Wilkerson, Johjima).  Geoff Baker points out that he carries on OPS+ of 107 coming into tonight’s game (seven points above league average) and is on pace for 30 home runs, so maybe he is tolerable after Seattle’s other lineup improvements.  As of this second he is hitting .230, which almost seems decent after what we’ve put up with over the last year or so.

For speculation sake, who could Seattle go after if they somehow find a way to get Sexson out of the lineup?  An outfielder would make more sense than a first baseman, because Raul Ibanez could finally be moved out of the outfield to play first and DH.  Assuming Seattle isn’t about to trade Jeff Clement (which may be too much to assume at this point), here’s a list of guys Seattle could take a look at:

• David DeJesus, KC – Nothing spectacular, but he can hit for a decent average and draw some walks.  He’s got some gap power and can steal a handful of bases.  He could hold his own in the lineup, but his biggest contribution to Seattle would be on the defensive side.   He’s underrated and inexpensive, so prying him away from Kansas City may not be the easiest thing in the world.  Joey Gathwright is waiting for a starting gig, however, so DeJesus may be had for the right price.
• Milton Bradely, TEX – While trading within the division can be tricky at times, Bradley would be a good player to pursue.  The switch hitter is hitting well so far this season, sporting a line of .314/.412/.500 with 3 homers, 7 doubles and12 RBI in 24 games with the Rangers.  Bradley may be a star in this league right now if he could have kept himself healthy and out of trouble.  As Texas falls farther andfarther from view in the AL West picture, they should be willing to part with Bradley and his one year, $5.25M contract.
• Geoff Jenkins, PHI – Many thought Seattle should pursue the free agent over the offseason, but we got Wilkerson instead.  While he’s not hitting great (.265/.307/.349), he would bring solid defense and could probably come fairly cheap (trade-wise).  The Phillies are so intent on keeping Jayson Werth’s hot bat in the lineup that they currently have Shane Victorino sitting on the bench.  They’d surely love to shed an outfielder.
• Ryan Ludwick or Chris Duncan, STL – The Cardinals have a serious outfield logjam on their hands.  With Ludwick, Duncan and Skip Schumaker battling each other for time in right and left field, Rich Ankiel firmly entrenched in center, a talented young guy in Brian Barton sitting on the bench and Colby Rasmus, one of the top prospects in all of baseball, waiting in AAA, they could certainly shed some outfield talent.
• Matt Murton, CHC – Trade rumors have been swirling around Murton since the offseason, but he is still a Cub.  WithReed Johnson performing at such a high level for Chicago they may finally be willing to part with Murton.  They’re asking for a lot, though, perhaps too much.
• Xavier Nady, PIT – Off to a blazing hot start, Pittsburgh may like to sell high on the former 2nd round pick.  He’s been mentioned in trade rumors throughout the season and Pittsburgh is already in last place, so I see them unloading most of their veteran players.
• Ken Griffey or Adam Dunn, CIN – Both of these guys could be free agents after the season and new Reds GM Walt Jockettyis willing to trade either of them with baseball’s top prospect Jay Bruce ready in AAA and Ryan Freel complaining about his playing time.  Griffey likely could be had for dirt cheap and re-signed at a discount, but Adam Dunn may be the better offensive fit.  Based on Jocketty’s track record, I doubt that he’d ask for much for either of these two guys.
• Brian Giles or Jim Edmonds, SD – San Diego is currently nine games back in a very competitiveNL West, so they could consider shopping either of these former sluggers if they continue to fall.  While neither would be the best option for Seattle, they both have some left handed pop and could handle a corner outfield spot better than Ibanez could.

There are some interesting names in there, and some others that I left out for various reasons.  As I mentioned above, getting Sexson out of the lineup isn’t easy, so he probably has a longer leash than Wilkerson and Vidro.  If Seattle still needs production later in the year, look for them to make a deadline deal.