posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 9:26 PM
by
Jim
Westward Hurt
Frank Thomas, the most menacing hitter in White Sox history, the face of the organization, two-time MVP and a World Series champion, has moved on to the Oakland A’s, where he signed an incentive-laden one-year deal for a team that could use a proven masher.
I’ll sum up my feelings more comprehensively when I roll out the White Sox eulogies later next month, but I’m not going to be torn up about Frank in Oakland. In fact, I hope he hits the cover off the ball, gets closer to 500 homers and reasserts himself as a viable full-time DH to anybody who can play him.
Then again, perhaps I feel fine about this because I don’t see him making much of an impact in Oakland.
The Sox were so frightened by his ankle injuries that they didn’t even offer him a measly contract. Neither did 14 other AL teams, including the Twins, who haven’t had a player hit 30 homers for them since 1987.
I’m not a doctor, nor will I play one on this blog, but I imagine healthy ankles are crucial for a guy who has nearly all of his 270 pounds resting on top of them. That has to be reason No. 1 why he’s only played 108 games in the last two years.
Frank may be more motivated than any other player to prove his detractors wrong, so it’s not going to be an issue of working hard enough.
It would be one thing if the Sox had an Albert Pujols- or Miguel Cabrera-type waiting in the wings, but the Sox have replaced the injury-prone Thomas with the suddenly injury-prone Jim Thome. While Thome is more than two years younger and a better bet to rebound, many people including Thomas himself feel that the two sluggers are six of one, half-dozen of another when it comes to health issues.
It’s just going to be hard for Thomas to scratch out 80 games without needing multiple DL stints. He’ll turn 38 in May, he’s not going to be ready to go in April despite an entire offseason to prepare, and regular movements could hurt him, whether it’s running or taking big swings.
At least Thomas is going to be in a situation that’s right for him. When he gets back, he’ll see plenty of at-bats if he’s healthy, but there’s no pressure to play him every day if his body can’t handle it. They’re stocked with corner outfield types who can hit a little, so Frank can hit when he wants to, rest when he needs to, and get ready for maybe one last hurrah in 2007.
I hope he’ll be ready to go in late May when the A’s visit Chicago – he still deserves standing ovations from Sox fans because he missed out on far too many of them. And it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to have a couple losses at his hands. It’d shut the mouths of the media who criticized him his whole career, and it’s not like we can beat Oakland anyway.