Cut Loose Like a Deuce

[Guest AG/DC]

Frank Fuckin' Thomas

http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2008/04/21/sports/mlb/doc480c77de8feb0464153417.txt

[metirish]

I know he has slumped since the first week but he still had 3 HR and 11 RBI , I'm sure he'll find a home with another AL team.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Especially since he'll only cost the major-league minimum.

Strange that the Blue Jays were so quick to give up on him. They must have really seen him as a bad apple.

[Guest AG/DC]

Predict NOW!!!

I say he goes back to Oaktown.

[metirish]

Baltimore.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Bronx.

[seawolf17]

Yeah, because the Yankees need more DHs.

Seattle'd be a good fit.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I predicted the Bronx because Hank may have his father's lust for big names, despite whether they fit in or not.

[seawolf17]

Actually, how great would that be!! I hope Hank just claims him.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yanks could release Giambi and pick up Big Frank. Were I them I'd consider it.

[Guest sharpie]

Thing is, Thomas hasn't played first in a few years and while Giambi can't hit or field well he does still own a mitt.

[Guest Triple Dee]

Put me down for Seattle, who have currently have Jose Vidro DHing.

[HahnSolo]

Seattle

[Guest AG/DC]

Seattle is squatted.

He's probably one of those guys, like Rickey, who clears waivers but still has enough leverage and suitors after to negotiate up from the major league minimum. So releasing turns out financially good in the short run.

[Guest sharpie]

I'll vote Texas.

[Benjamin Grimm]

AG/DC wrote: Seattle is squatted. He's probably one of those guys, like Rickey, who clears waivers but still has enough leverage and suitors after to negotiate up from the major league minimum. So releasing turns out financially good in the short run.

Would that do him any good though? I'm not sure how this works, but I thought that if he was able to get more money out of his new team, it would just reduce the amount that the Blue Jays end up owing him. He does have a contract for 2008 and it's still in effect.

[Guest AG/DC]

My understanding is that, once a man clears waivers, the releasing team is responsible for what they're responsible for.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe you're right; I really don't know. I just can't recall any time a player in Thomas' situation ever negotiated anything more than the pro-rated minimum from his new team.

But it just may be that few of the cut-loose and highly-compensated players have had more than one suitor.

[smg58]

I'll say the Twins.

[Guest AG/DC]

Well this Times article leaves it inconclusive whether the Mariners paid Henderson anything beyond the minimum for the duration of 2000, but he did at least eke out an option year.

BASEBALL; Mariners Sign Henderson

May 18, 2000

Rickey Henderson, released by the Mets over the weekend, has reached an agreement with Seattle, his agent said last night.

Henderson and the Mariners agreed about eight hours after baseball's career stolen-base leader cleared waivers, the agent Jeff Borris said. The Montreal Expos also pursued signing Henderson.

Henderson spoke to the managers Lou Piniella of Seattle and Felipe Alou of the Expos in the hours leading up to his decision.

''It went down to the bottom of the ninth,'' Borris said. ''The Expos made a valiant effort to get him, but so did the Mariners.''

Henderson, 41, was cut by the Mets in the midst of a troubling season. He needs 163 hits for No. 3,000. He also has hopes of becoming baseball's career leader in runs scored and walks.

The Mariners will most likely use Henderson as their regular leadoff hitter and left fielder. The deal includes a team option for a 2001 contract at $3 million with a $250,000 buyout.

[Frayed Knot]

- First Thomas has to clear waivers - which he almost certainly will do since no one will want to pick up the existing contract.

- When he clears, Toronto will owe him for this year (plus any buyout) but get out from under next year's option which had an automatic kick-in at a certain AB level but his new team is free to strike a brand new deal w/him.

Oakland has Jack Cust (as a similar player),
Seattle boasts Richie Sexson
I'd be shocked if the Yanx touch him

He turns 40 in a few weeks and hasn't played 1B since 2004, and regularly since years earlier then that.

[Guest AG/DC]

I'm aware of Cust

[DocTee]

For a guy with his credentials, I was surprised to see he had only five AS games to his credit.

Balmer.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

]After being benched, Frank Thomas told the GM all he needed to know by refusing to go on the field with his teammates after Saturday�s victory. �You�re either part of the team or you�re not,� Ricciardi said. �It�s not real hard to go out there and shake hands. I don�t think that�s a tough thing to do. I think that was probably the start of letting us really realize this is not going to work with Frank here and not playing, because obviously we were going to be 24 guys instead of 25 and it was probably going to alienate the clubhouse a little bit. That�s why everybody reacted the way we reacted.�

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Maybe Thomas had a good reason not to join his teammates on the filed after the game. He may have been manning his merchandising tent.


Seriously, if Thomas truly did not join his teammates on the field after a win, then he deserved to be cut loose.

[Guest sharpie]

Re-signs with the A's. AGDC jumped on that one and swatted away all squatters.

[Guest AG/DC]

Thank you, Ryan Zimmerman!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Now now!

[Frayed Knot]

ChiSox GM Kenny Williams didn't have many good things to say about Thomas on his way out their door either.
Maybe Oakland was the only one he parted on good terms with. Now he and Cust can form a non-hitting L/R DH duo cuz both are under .200 this year.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Frank Thomas is one of my favorite players -- and gave me something special once at Tiger Stadium.


Here's a blog post from waaaaaay back. My favorite Frank story. Enjoy...




Will and I were huge Frank Thomas fans even before I came into possession of the glorious sphere now known as "The Frank Ball."

The slugger came onto the scene just around the time both of us had moved to Flint. And we believed the tall first-baseman with the mega-watt smile would be the person to finally lead the moribund White Sox to better things.

We both had the life-sized poster of Frank � his last name was unnecessary by now � gracing our homes and collected his cards.

But actual contact with our hero was elusive.

We were on the field before the final game at Comiskey Park, rubbing elbows with Sox catcher Ron Karkovice and reliever Scott Radinsky, but Frank was nowhere to be found.

A year later we waited on a long cattle-chute autograph line at the White Sox Winterfest, snaking back and forth while Frank signed, smiled and posed with other fans � only to have the slugger heart-breakingly replaced with other signers as we inched closer. Minnie Minoso and then-manager Gene LaMont are nice guys, but we wanted Frank.

And at one Tigers-Sox game, an early afternoon shower washed out batting practice, leaving players lots of time to sign autographs. Two-thirds of the Sox signed a ball for me � but Frank remained in the clubhouse.

So when the White Sox were in Detroit for a series with the Tigers in early 1992, we weren�t discouraged by the showers that fell throughout the day.

In fact, we liked going to Tiger Stadium in such conditions. The vast majority of the lower deck was covered, and the rain kept a lot of people home, especially early in the season. We�d buy the cheapest tickets and sit pretty much wherever we wanted.

My favorite spot was section 224, right behind the visitors� dugout on the first-base side and with easy access to a concession stand. That night Will and I were joined by friends John and Emily � my wife wanted no part of damp, cold nights at the ballpark.

There was a miserable drizzle that fell through most of the night, light enough to keep playing and wet enough to either send people home early or keep under cover. We sat toward the back of the section, bundled up and well under the overhang.

I wore a 1980s-era Sox cap � with a purpose, of course.

The new, black cap with the Old English lettering was all the rage, even with people who didn�t follow baseball. I wanted to show I was an actual Sox fan � such things are important.

I�ve followed the team as a secondary favorite since Tom Seaver played for them from 1984 to 1986, and had to stand out from the bandwagon-jumping cap-buyers. The tri-color 1980s cap, with the futuristic S-O-X, is so brutally ugly that only a real fan would be caught with such a thing. Keep in mind, this was long before the retro craze that made all things ugly popular again.

By later in the game, the drizzle diminished into more of a mist and there was probably less than a thousand people in the stands. Emily and I decided to move down to the row of seats directly behind the Sox dugout during the eighth inning. The orange-capped Tiger Stadium ushers had long-since lost interest in chasing seat-hoppers.

Frank was playing first base, so we were able to get a close look. After the inning ended Frank walked back toward the dugout and glanced up. We weren�t hard to see since all the other seats were empty. That, and we were screaming his name.

I think Frank heard us.

I think people in the left field stands probably heard us.

He looked up, flashed the mega-watt grin.

We had made eye-contact with Frank. Yes!

We were not leaving those seats.

The Tigers went meekly in the bottom of the ninth. Out No. 3 was a routine grounder to short with an easy throw to our man Frank at first. Game over.

Walking back to the dugout, Frank looked up, making eye contact a second time. Yes!

Then the unthinkable happened.

As he got closer, Frank took the gameball from his glove. "HEY!" he said in my direction, then tossed the ball � a soft arc through the mist to my outstretched left hand.

It took a nano-second for the gloriousness of the moment to sink in. Frank Thomas, the elusive Frank Thomas, had just given me a ball that ended a Major League game.

I remember yelling "Thanks, Frank!" and some guy saying "Hey, can I have that?" As if.

I�d once snagged a foul ball at a New Britain Red Sox game, and had a batting practice ball from the Rochester Red Wings from when I was on the field for an interview. Valued treasures, to be sure. But this one was special.

Frank�s career with the Sox has had ups and downs. He was once a sure-thing for Cooperstown, now he�s more of a borderline candidate. I think he�ll get in, but I�m nothing if not loyal. The game ball is enshrined in plastic with a card from that year, an permanent exhibit in the baseball room of what has come to be known as the "magical, misty night at Tiger Stadium."