Re: Oakland signs Frank Thomas

[CoolHandLuke]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3365079

 

Cue "The Circle of Life" by Elton John

[Little Slide Rooter]

Intereesting pick up by a team supposedly rebuilding from the ground up.

 

So how does it work now? Toronto pays his salary, will Oakland pays league minimum? Does Thomas get paid twice, or does Oakland pay Toronto?

[TheDude]

Intereesting pick up by a team supposedly rebuilding from the ground up.

 

So how does it work now? Toronto pays his salary, will Oakland pays league minimum? Does Thomas get paid twice, or does Oakland pay Toronto?

 

Pretty much the same deal as Johnson. The Blue Jays sure do enjoy paying people to play elsewhere.

[biittner77]

Intereesting pick up by a team supposedly rebuilding from the ground up.

 

So how does it work now? Toronto pays his salary, will Oakland pays league minimum? Does Thomas get paid twice, or does Oakland pay Toronto?

 

Toronto pays Thomas. Oakland pays him whatever he signed for (probably near the minimum)

 

The move makes sense even if they are rebuilding because it gives them an .800 ops guy for free.

[Post Count Padder]

And the circle is complete.

[CoolHandLuke]

Frank Thomas for the A's in 2006 may have provided them with the most production per dollar for a post arbitration player ever. He just might do it again this year.

[RedFlash]

I don't really get this move. They have Sweeney/Cust, and Barton at the 1st/DH, so adding Thomas, IMO, doesn't make too much sense. It won't hurt the A's, but unless Thomas gets hitting, it doesn't make sense.

[Clem Fandango]

I don't really get this move. They have Sweeney/Cust, and Barton at the 1st/DH, so adding Thomas, IMO, doesn't make too much sense. It won't hurt the A's, but unless Thomas gets hitting, it doesn't make sense.

 

If Thomas starts slugging again I can definitely see the A's putting Cust or Sweeney on the market

[CoolHandLuke]

I don't really get this move. They have Sweeney/Cust, and Barton at the 1st/DH, so adding Thomas, IMO, doesn't make too much sense. It won't hurt the A's, but unless Thomas gets hitting, it doesn't make sense.

 

If Thomas starts slugging again I can definitely see the A's putting Cust or Sweeney on the market

 

or Thomas and basically get a decent prospect or two for free.

[Tracer Bullet]

I don't really get this move. They have Sweeney/Cust, and Barton at the 1st/DH, so adding Thomas, IMO, doesn't make too much sense. It won't hurt the A's, but unless Thomas gets hitting, it doesn't make sense.

 

If Thomas starts slugging again I can definitely see the A's putting Cust or Sweeney on the market

 

or Thomas and basically get a decent prospect or two for free.

 

and there it is. You pay him the minimum. If he sucks, you can keep him or cut him. If he starts slugging and someone calls coming in July, you paid a total of maybe $200k and trade him for a prospect or two. Makes sense to me.

[Guest]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

[TruffleShuffle]

cust's performance last year was unsustainable given his strikeout rate of nearly 43% of his ABs. oakland is, i'm sure, smart enough to realize this.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Intereesting pick up by a team supposedly rebuilding from the ground up.

 

So how does it work now? Toronto pays his salary, will Oakland pays league minimum? Does Thomas get paid twice, or does Oakland pay Toronto?

 

Toronto pays Thomas. Oakland pays him whatever he signed for (probably near the minimum)

 

The move makes sense even if they are rebuilding because it gives them an .800 ops guy for free.

 

So he gets paid twice? So it pays to sign a big deal, suck, hope to get released and sign somewhere else? That cant be right.

[SouthSideRyan]

Intereesting pick up by a team supposedly rebuilding from the ground up.

 

So how does it work now? Toronto pays his salary, will Oakland pays league minimum? Does Thomas get paid twice, or does Oakland pay Toronto?

 

Toronto pays Thomas. Oakland pays him whatever he signed for (probably near the minimum)

 

The move makes sense even if they are rebuilding because it gives them an .800 ops guy for free.

 

So he gets paid twice? So it pays to sign a big deal, suck, hope to get released and sign somewhere else? That cant be right.

 

The pro-rated minimum that Oakland pays him is deducted from what Toronto owes him.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Intereesting pick up by a team supposedly rebuilding from the ground up.

 

So how does it work now? Toronto pays his salary, will Oakland pays league minimum? Does Thomas get paid twice, or does Oakland pay Toronto?

 

Toronto pays Thomas. Oakland pays him whatever he signed for (probably near the minimum)

 

The move makes sense even if they are rebuilding because it gives them an .800 ops guy for free.

 

So he gets paid twice? So it pays to sign a big deal, suck, hope to get released and sign somewhere else? That cant be right.

 

The pro-rated minimum that Oakland pays him is deducted from what Toronto owes him.

 

Gotcha. So essentially, Oaklands paying Canada.

[Banghart]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

I do! I do! Especially since this team has been looking, guess I shouldn't say looking because we all know what the Cubs look for in bench players, for right handed thunder since Angel Echevarria. That was why I thought a decent option was to trade one of our right handed relievers to Detroit for Thames.

[UK1679666180]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

 

Not with Lou's quick trigger and the fact Thomas was pissy about rotting on the bench.

[Tracer Bullet]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

 

Not with Lou's quick trigger and the fact Thomas was pissy about rotting on the bench.

 

Yeah. If Thomas would accept being the power hitting PH on our bench and Lou would use him correctly, he would be very useful. Would be great to replace Murton, who's a terrible PH and won't ever start, with a guy that Thomas. But Thomas isn't willing to give up the full-time DH role yet. Funny to me that he'd rather be a starter on a team like Oakland than a reserve for a team with a better chance of winning a title this year (not necessarily us, I'm sure other teams would have offered him that role).

[brinoch]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

 

Generally-speaking, yes.

 

I've long been in favor of an 11 man staff, with the 11th pitcher doing the AAA shuffle as needed. For the '08 Cubs (pre-Eyre injury), that would have been Wood, Marmol, Howry, Lieber, Eyre with Wuertz, Hart, Marshall, Pignatello shuffling back and forth to ensure a fresh reliever.

[Guest]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

 

Not with Lou's quick trigger and the fact Thomas was pissy about rotting on the bench.

Don't necessarily mean Frank in particular, but the principle. Heck, I would have been in favor of adding Dan Johnson off waivers and sending a pitcher down.

[nilodnayr]

Intereesting pick up by a team supposedly rebuilding from the ground up.

 

So how does it work now? Toronto pays his salary, will Oakland pays league minimum? Does Thomas get paid twice, or does Oakland pay Toronto?

 

Toronto pays Thomas. Oakland pays him whatever he signed for (probably near the minimum)

 

The move makes sense even if they are rebuilding because it gives them an .800 ops guy for free.

 

So he gets paid twice? So it pays to sign a big deal, suck, hope to get released and sign somewhere else? That cant be right.

 

The pro-rated minimum that Oakland pays him is deducted from what Toronto owes him.

 

Gotcha. So essentially, Oaklands paying Canada.

 

No, its just that Frank doesnt make more than he signed for. He makes the same. Oakland is paying him near the min, Tor is paying him what his contract says minus near min. So if Oakland is paying him 500K and Tor was paying him 9M, Frank gets 9M, 8.5M comes from Tor, .5 comes from Oak.

[nilodnayr]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

 

Not with Lou's quick trigger and the fact Thomas was pissy about rotting on the bench.

Don't necessarily mean Frank in particular, but the principle. Heck, I would have been in favor of adding Dan Johnson off waivers and sending a pitcher down.

 

Frank wouldnt sign to be a PH when someone is willing to give him a DH job out there...now I know of one guy whos still looking for a job :D

[UK1679666180]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

 

Not with Lou's quick trigger and the fact Thomas was pissy about rotting on the bench.

Don't necessarily mean Frank in particular, but the principle. Heck, I would have been in favor of adding Dan Johnson off waivers and sending a pitcher down.

 

He's too much of a micromanager right now with his pen to take away another option out there.

[chuckywang]

Anyone else think that carrying another bat like Thomas would be more beneficial to the team than carrying the 12th pitcher?

 

I would think that Thomas wants to play everyday as a DH rather than be a pinch hitter once in awhile.

[Guest]

For the love of...

 

Again, the use of Thomas was merely an example. I'm questioning the value of carrying 12 pitchers versus an extra bat on the bench.