It's been a long season for the Jays' most marketable player, Frank Thomas. He has been hovering around the .200 mark all season long, and has not lived up to the hype.
"I mainly came to Toronto because all of the greatest players in baseball do so," said Thomas yesterday. "If you can remember, Rickey Henderson, Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco, David Wells... all those guys came to play for the Jays for a couple of years."
"It's just the cool thing to do as an MLB player. Now that I've gotten over the novelty of playing on the only Canadian MLB team, I've decided to play a little better," finished Thomas.
He went 4-4 yesterday night against the Orioles, and hit his 513th homerun. This success is a continuing trend for Thomas as the season winds down.
"I realize that we only have five games left, but whatever. Big whoop. I'm obviously just an aging relic. My main purpose is getting more Torontonians to come to games," he said.
"I mainly came to Toronto because all of the greatest players in baseball do so," said Thomas yesterday. "If you can remember, Rickey Henderson, Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco, David Wells... all those guys came to play for the Jays for a couple of years."
"It's just the cool thing to do as an MLB player. Now that I've gotten over the novelty of playing on the only Canadian MLB team, I've decided to play a little better," finished Thomas.
He went 4-4 yesterday night against the Orioles, and hit his 513th homerun. This success is a continuing trend for Thomas as the season winds down.
"I realize that we only have five games left, but whatever. Big whoop. I'm obviously just an aging relic. My main purpose is getting more Torontonians to come to games," he said.
Posts
10 comments:
he's been hitting over .300 since the all star break.
maybe if the other players on his team gut out of their slumps like he did, the team would be competing in September!
this .200 thing is incorrect.
of course, i got the statistic wrong.
and you're right, he's not the only one who is/was slumping.
i make up shit here a lot of the time and i do get things wrong. it's part of the satire.
from my perspective, thomas is the stereotypical aging veteran that teams pick up to boost ticket sales instead of improving the roster.
it bothers me that thomas had a breakout year with oakland and he couldn't be as amazing with the jays.
i really think you should look at his stats.
he was actually more horrible in the first half of last year with Oakland, and picked it up in August with all these home runs and a great average after the all-star break.
he's doing the same now, except a few less HRs, but the difference between toronto players and last years Oakland players was the pathetic OBP of toronto players.
how are you supposed to get RBI if no one is getting on. remember who was hitting in front of him this year. Vernon Wells with an OBP of what crap?
look at the stats. he and Rios would have much better stats if the guy infront of them were hitting.
frank thomas is second most in RBI in the second half of these past two seasons, only behind Ryan Howard!
he's also admitted that he'll have to start spring training earlier, and he'll see his first hitting coach over the winter.
he's not your typical home run guy.
the most he's had in one year in 43.
he's no sammy sosa.
and 10th in the league in walks.
he still has a good eye, and would be much better if vernon, overbay and company would learn how to take walks..and yeah get healthy.
i think 12 players now are going to or have already had surgery for this team. how can you truly compete with all those injuries. this is more than going on the DL?
actual surgery needs time to heal.
You've got some good defense on Thomas. All that you've said is completely valid, and for a moment, you had me sympathizing for him.
I'm still a little frustrated though. I admit, my feelings are probably a little unfair, and that's partly because my blog isn't meant to spare anyone of criticism.
I love the Jays. I've gone to several of their games this summer and I'm legitimately upset that they're not in the post season. Despite that, I'm going to make shots at them for the sake of fun and humour.
Look at this:
for his "comback player of the year season" with Oakland, he was paid $500,000 (with "incentives," whatever that means). Thomas is getting $18.12 million with the Jays for two years. Despite the fact he may have had a slow start with Oakland, you can't overlook the BARGAIN they got. And their deal came with more results, period.
That's my main beef.
At the same time, I like that you mention that he's admitted his mistake of not training earlier. I respect that a lot. But he didn't do that this season, so, that's why I'm taking a few stabs at him. Maybe he was a little too proud of himself to have to "train" this year? I dunno.
Thanks for your comments.
no because it worked last year--not having spring training...and the reason why he did that was because his broken foot wasn't healed, so he couldn't do it.
i remember watching him last year and his game was HRs. He had like 10 doubles last, and he has about 30 now. when a players HRs go down, usually their doubles go up.
he literally was hobbling around on one foot. now he can get to second base easily.
he admitted his mistake, but he is hot after the all star break.
everyone else on this team wasn't anywhere near hitting near .300 since then, except those who where consistent the whole year - hill and rios.
it takes a whole team, but if your team's OBP is 13th in the league, how are you going to win games?
he has ego like anyone else, and that's why he was stepped it up. very few players have been able to, and i truly believe those broken hands, feet, shoulders have stopped them from hitting like they used to.
he was the "man" in oakland, the man in chicago for so many years. he realized he can no longer do that for teams anymore, instead he wants to help.
if you look at his stats, he's one of the better of the DH..not up there with Ortiz, but close.
he came 4th in MVP votes last year, and was third in RBI in August, beind Magglio Ordonez and Garret Anderson! he's not washed up.
look at NY..a big reason why they stepped up was because they weren't hitting. then all of a sudden everyone picked up the pace.
therefore you need everyone to pick up the pace.
vernon, lyle, reed, and troy stayed in their slumps.
it's easy to pick on one guy, but its the whole team.
and i'm not so sure if he was hot in the beginning, that we would be truly competing with broken people on our lineup.
and if your main beef in the bargain, well he'll be paid 8 mill next year right, but look at what they will be paying another DH in NY for putting up horrible numbers...21 mill for Jason Giambi...8 mill isn't much for a guy that will give you 100 RBI next year...do you think Giambi will even come close to 100 next year will being paid over 20 mill?
all i know is Thomas is probably putting up better numbers than a lot of people being paid much more or the same...how many RBI does Manny Ramirez have, keep in mind, he's hitting behind David Ortiz?!!
i'm surprised thomas has anything close to 100 RBI this year, with who he was hitting in front of - Vernon 'the automatic out Wells and Troy 'the automatic strike out' Glaus.
when you have no protection, it's hard to get anything but junk outside the plate.
Frank Thomas has had his heyday, and he used to be a great player - when he actually PLAYED the field.
I am not happy with Ricciardi's decision to sign Thomas for the ridiculous amount that they did. This is why:
Consider a player like Matt Stairs. We got him for somewhere in the neighborhood of 800,000 dollars, and here's what he's done:
a)he's hit 20 home runs in only 351 AB's (a much better average when you compare Thomas' 26 home runs in 526 games)
b) he's actually PLAYED. Thomas sits on the bench 50% of the time and gets paid millions of dollars to watch his teammates. Stairs is actively involved in not only offense but also defense.
c) moreover, Stairs can play the field - from first base to the outfield, he does it and does it well.
Stairs is the kind of player we need and we got him for a perfect price. Thomas' salary is ridiculous - Toronto is NOT the Yankees and we can't afford to be dishing out money to "aging relics" like Thomas. We need young, fresh arms. Unfortunately, they made a stupid mistake signing him, because no matter how well he does for these last 3 games of the season or all of next season, he's not a real ballplayer unless he's doing what Stairs does.
Sorry anonymous, but although you've got some good points about his stats, there are better players on the team who we've paid much less for and have performed much better than him. Hill is another example, as well as Johnny Mac.
I hope we get rid of him soon.
stairs isn't a good defender.
nor was he ever a star, and really hasn't had a good year in years.
you realize that most of Stairs good games are against righties right?
he's had a fluke year.
Frank thomas is one of the best DH's that's ever played the field. infact, he as more home runs as a DH than anyone that has ever played that position.
believe it or not, stairs is a liability.
if vernon goes, than the whole team goes.
frank has great numbers.
this idea that being a DH is bad is ridiculous. it's one of the reasons why the National League is a joke.
He's lead his team to the playoffs twice as a DH, and once as a first basemen. keep in mind, he's lead his team to the playoffs at 38!
10th in the AL is homeruns, 11 in BB.
that to me is a good year. he didn't come here to be the "man". other players have failed this year, and he isn't one of them.
and toronto can afford to dish out money. this idea that the owner can't pay players good money is ridiculous. the owner has a lot of money, and showed it by giving up big money for AJ, Troy, Frank
and my God, look at Vernon's contract!
this team has to step up next year and get past their injuries.
since when is a DH a bad thing?
toronto fans need to get over the fact that they are a mid market team, when in reality they can spend like crazy if they choose so.
and we already have a great pitching staff.
vernon needs to come back next year or this team is going nowhere.
he's a good offensive player.
with all the injuries, he's one of the few that have stayed healthy, and he's had a monster second half.
Rios and Hill have stayed consistent, but you still need players to step up, and he definitely did that.
are you seriously counting on Johhny Mac to get 100 RBI? lol.
and with the amount of GIDP that Hill produces, I doubt he would have even come close to 100 RBI.
Look, we've had a great discussion. Everyone has made some good points.
But the post isn't changing. It's completely false and wrong (some people still think it reflects some truth, though).
essentially, if you don't find it funny, then move along.
thanks for reading and posting your comments.
Post a Comment