Praise Jesus Reds win in extras today!
Build on it Reds, build on it…the angelic presence of Marge Schott is watching over you…smoking a cig and eating raw prime rib…
Toronto released Frank Thomas today.
This is almost worth its own Pit thread, but this sort of move is significant in two ways:
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It’s the sort of move that Toronto makes these days that makes me pull my hair out when people talk about how J.P. Ricciardi is a “Moneyball” general manager. Anyone who thinks J.P. Ricciardi is a “Moneyball” GM either didn’t read Moneyball, doesn’t follow the Blue Jays, or is a tard.
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Most importantly, this is the sort of move that raised a giganitc, twenty-foot-wide red flag that says, in big, black letters, “WE DON’T HAVE ANY IDEA WHERE WE’RE GOING.”
Now, I was very much unhappy with the Thomas signing last year, and I acknowledge the big oaf was hitting .167. The thing is, though, why do you decide NOW that you don’t want him? Thomas always starts slowly. He started slowly last year, and then tore it up for four months. He started slowly in 2006. He ALWAYS starts slowly. You knew in spring training that he would start slowly. You knew his 2009 option would vest if he batted 350 times or whatever the number was. So why wait three weeks and THEN decide you don’t want him around anymore? The Blue Jays possessed no significant information on April 20 that they didn’t also possess on March 20.
And it’s not like he was killing the team; despite the .167 average, he had hit three homers and was keeping his OBP above .300, and the last few days he nailed the ball pretty hard but just hit it right at people. So now the DH is…
… Shannon Stewart, except apparently he’s sort of hurt. Oh, and he’s hitting .235.
I acknowledge that it’s possible Toronto’s coaching staff sees something wrong with his swing I do not, but (a) not to toot my own horn, but I usually DO see that sort of thing, and he looks the same as he did last year, and (b) I just find it impossible to believe that they couldn’t have seen any such problem in spring training.
So effectively what you have is a team that thought they wanted Thomas on April 1, and then on April 20 decided they didn’t, with no statistically significant intervening events or information. So either they didn’t know what they were doing three weeks ago, or don’t know now, or don’t in general. It’s a classic sign of a sports franchise quite adrift. It’s clear the Jays have no plan beyond “We’d better win this year or we’re hosed,” and are now making panic moves based on that one intention.
Swept. By the Braves. A total of three runs scored in the series.
It’s gonna be a long season.
RickJay:
They interviewed Thomas on Baseball Tonight, on ESPN. Before the interview, they described the lead-up to Toronto releasing him.
According to their explanation, Thomas was not happy with getting less playing time. The Blue Jays’ GM and Manager did not want an unhappy Big Hurt on the team, and were unwilling to give him the amount of playing time he wanted just to keep him happy. The decision to split was, according to the report, a mutual and amicable one.
Of course, baseball clubs tend to say shit like this in order to calm the waters, or at least put a good public face on things.
I don’t follow the inner workings of the Blue Jays very closely. Do you get the impression that Thomas basically demanded a release after realizing he might not get much playing time? Or do you think the Jays just decided to dump him? Thomas himself wasn’t very forthcoming in the interview.
I think Thomas saw exactly what the Rangers did with Sammy Sosa last year. He probably figures he’ll get picked up by a team in contention. Seattle?
Probably won’t be the Rangers. The A’s might be interesting, but not sure they really think they’re going to stay in contention.
I guess I have to drop in and take my lumps from Cluricaun, since the Cubs vaulted ahead of the Cards over the weekend. The Cards dropped three of their last four. Curses! Hopefully, they’ll bounce back in Milwaukee tonight.
My other notes from this weekend:
- Randy Johnson. I think it is time to retire.
- Manny Ramirez. You get thrown out of a game in the second inning arguing balls and strikes. What an idiot. If the Red Sox would have lost that game, you very well could have been the reason.
- Eric Gagne. This guy is the worst closer in baseball.
Well said. If the news is “player gets released after a disagreement with management” you just know it will involve the Blue Jays.
There were a lot of Dodger fans who understood that he was probably never going to be the same after his injuries. We were sad to see him go, but knew it was for the best.
Why the rest of baseball couldn’t figure that out still boggles my mind.
What’s up with the wacky schedule? The Cards have already had seven games against San Francisco but won’t play them again for the rest of the season. Seems lopsided.
This was the story in the local media as well. There’s three problems with it, as I see it:
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The length of time between “Frank’s not the regular DH anymore” to “Sayonara” was about two days.
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Thomas’s release was predicted by at least one source before it was announced he wouldn’t be a regular anymore, and
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The game after he was released, the designated hitter was Marco Scutaro and his sizzling .189 average, with a staggering 0 home runs. So the move just doesn’t make any sense.
Now, I’m sure Marco Scutaro is a nice guy and he’s a useful backup infielder, but it’s impossible to devise any sort of logical argument, based on the on field needs of the team, whereby you would prefer to have Marco Scutaro as your DH instead of Frank Thomas. I really don’t think this was thought out beyond “Ahhh! We’re not hitting! Do something! Anything! What would save us the most money?”
I’m not questioning the decision to release Frank Thomas. I’m questioning keeping him for three weeks, and THEN deciding to release him, as opposed to getting rid of him before they decided to dump Reed Johnson (who, I cannot help but notice, is playing magnificently.) So now the team has no righthanded DH. Today,
We are loving his .429 OBP and he’s looking good leading off with Soriano out of the lineup. He and Theriot are shaping up to be a frightening top of the order ahead of a red-hot D-Lee. Me likey. Don’t rush back Alfonso.
You’ll also love his defense.
Long term, the truth is Reed cannot hit righthanded pitching. But he DOES hit lefties, and he DOES play D. He has definite skills that make him useful. Toronto now has a morass of guys who do a lot of things OK but don’t do anything well enough that you really want to see them doing it.
We’ll see. So far he’s been perfectly acceptable but playing CF in Wrigley has caused him a little trouble. He doesn’t quite cover enough ground, especially compared to Pie, and he’s misread quite a few balls hit straight back at him. At one of the corner spots I think he’d be outstanding but with Fukudome and Soriano he’s going to have to stay at Center, and even with Soriano hurt Pie is hitting below his weight so there’s little chance of him getting moved over.
That was the case last season, but if you look back over his career it’s not really that true. Perhaps last year was just an off year or the arms in the AL East were bad matchups for him. He does take a dip against righties but that’s expected from a right handed hitter. According to ESPN his 3-year average from 2005-2007 (which includes his awful '07 and excludes his hot start this year) he had a .268/.331/.398 from the right side and a .305/.380/.451 from the left which is not that atypical for a right hander.
So far he’s looked really comfortable and has been driving the ball, not many fluke hits, so theres reason to be optimistic that last year was just an off year.
Gotta love ESPN. Yankees didn’t play yesterday. Yet, their two top headlines are about Joba Chamberlain and Alex Rodriguez.
Well that .429 is an awesome stat, but he does manage to get on base a great deal by not really avoiding inside pitches. Hey, no real complaints get that lead off man on base however you need to, but I’d still rather see him hitting.
That being said, I say tough titty to Soriano when he comes back about hitting in that leadoff spot. You can either get a little plate discipline or you can bat wherever the hell you’re told to. Our squad is white hot right now, the last thing we need is Soriano coming back and slumping out our order. I mean how many times have we been seeing the middle of our line up hit with bases loaded? That’s what propelling our awesome offense right now and nothing, and I mean nothing should be allowed to fuck that up.
Yet another blown save for Eric Gagne.
Yet another bad loss for Barry Zito.
Smoltz gets the 3000th K, but takes a tough loss.
Brandon Webb is the first 5 game winner.
Interesting month so far.
Wang gets a cheap win to go to 4-0. Last night was the one of the reasons why I expect he can notch another 15+ win season and might well break 20.
He has pitched 2 very good games, a great game, a terrible game and a poor game. He is 4-0. The Yankees offense which is just warming up, can erase many poorly pitched games.
Both bullpens looked wild last night, but Joba came through big again. Giving up only one run when coming into a 1 out bases loaded situation.
Jim
The Cubbies are off to their best start in 33 years. I know that early season games aren’t that important but if you can keep racking up wins it makes that post All Star period that much easier. We’re at Colorado tonight, land of the home run and with the heat that our batters have been bringing this could get really fun really fast.
The Rangers.
Oh, the Rangers.
I have little else to say.