What shoulder problem? Sexson hopes to repeat '05

PEORIA, Ariz. — In a 2005 season in which everything seemed to go wrong for the Mariners, there was something big that went very right.

Richie Sexson was healthy.

And when the 6-foot-8 first baseman is healthy, he produces. Like 39 homers and 121 runs batted in while playing 156 games for Seattle last season.

Sexson's good health was no slam dunk, however, despite the four-year, $50 million deal he signed with Seattle in December 2004.

Signing Sexson was a gamble. He had played in just 23 games in 2004 for the Arizona Diamondbacks after undergoing surgery for a torn labrum in his shoulder.

The Diamondbacks reportedly had said there was a 10 percent chance of the injury recurring and Sexson did not deny that during an interview after he signed, telling The Seattle Times, "I don't think you can ever put 100 percent on any player. If I can get 90 percent, that's pretty darned good."

But that was more than a year ago, and Sexson is tired of dealing with the shoulder questions.

"The only time I think about my shoulder is when you guys keep asking me about it," he said. "It's been almost two years. I wish I never would have gotten hurt. I hurt myself riding my bike when I was 10, but I don't keep getting questions about that."

Sexson said his preparations in the offseason were similar to last year, except for one big thing.

"The last offseason I had to rehab the shoulder," he said. "This year, I just had to work out. I wouldn't say the working out was a lot of fun, but it's part of the job. I don't think anyone would say running on the treadmill is particularly enjoyable."

What he does enjoy is hitting. It is something he has done well at every stop in his professional career.

He hit 31 homers with 116 runs batted in during his first full major-league season, with the Cleveland Indians. He was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers during the 2000 season and hit 45 homers for them in 2001 and 2003, with 125 and 124 RBI.

After Sexson was traded to the Diamondbacks, he seemed destined to post similar numbers with nine home runs and 23 RBI in just 23 games. But then came the thing Sexson, from Brush Prairie High in Prairie, is tired of talking about. He first injured the shoulder on a checked swing, then aggravated the injury on another checked swing the day after he came back, ending his season.

But, as Sexson said, that was two years ago. He showed he was back in his very first game as a Mariner, hitting two home runs, and has been hitting ever since.

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said he was never really concerned about his first baseman last year.

"Richie told me he was fine, and I believed him," Hargrove said. "After the first four or five games, I never thought about it."

Maybe, as Sexson would prefer, everyone will quit thinking about it.

Looking trim and fit, he had hits in each of his two at-bats in Monday's intrasquad game, the first game-type action at camp.

"Every time you step into the batter's box you want to get a hit, so that was nice, but it was just an intrasquad game," Sexson said. "It wasn't like it was the seventh game [of the World Series] out there."

But it was a start, and based on what he has seen at camp, he thinks the Mariners' finish this season might be a lot better.

"I really liked the offseason moves, and things seem a lot better," Sexson said. "It just feels good this year."