It’s been a total of 24 hours since Frank Thomas, the struggling designated hitter, voiced his unhappiness with being benched by skipper John Gibbons. Before being released The Big Hurt was batting .167 with 3 homers and 11 RBI in the 16 games that he played.
He showed his displeasure once he was put to the bench to make way for the other DH on the roster Matt Stairs. Thomas said “Basically, I’ve been told that I’m not going to be in that lineup, Manager John Gibbons told me that this morning. I see it as something else is going on. We’ll see how that plays out.” Thomas was correct in his assumption that something else was going on, and it looks like the team was planning to get rid of him.
Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi said that the release was of ‘mutual consent’ and that they didn’t want him to be unhappy and Thomas handled the situation with class. He also said “Our best opportunity is to put other guys in the lineup at this point.”
Last season Thomas hit .277 with 26 home runs and 95 RBI, a pretty good season for a guy who is nearing the age of 40. He currently has 516 career homers but will fall short of the 304 plate appearances needed for him to earn his $10 million option for the 2009 season. In the contract it was ordered that he must make 1,000 plate appearances in the 2 season he was signed with the Blue Jays. In the 2007 season he made a hefty 624 appearances leaving him only 376 more to make some big cash in ‘09.
As far as I know Thomas is looking to continue his career with another ball club. Keep an eye on the teams that want to take a chance on him. Struggling or not, The Big Hurt will find his way out of the slump and get some team a solid 20-30 homers.
