Frank Thomas wasn’t pleased with a decrease in at bats and the Toronto Blue Jays were tired of waiting for his bat to come around. The two sides seemingly got what they wanted when the Blue Jays cut Thomas.
On the season, Thomas was batting .167 with three homers and 11 RBI for Toronto. The 39-year-old Thomas had started slowly the last few years before turning it up as the season went along. Toronto didn’t want to see if history would repeat itself and instead let him go.
The Blue Jays will likely rotate a number of players at …read more

I’m not a fan of the designated hitter rule. Either you’re out there playing or you’re not. That means if you’re a pitcher, you’re taking your turn at bat. Conversely, if you’re in the lineup, you’re taking the field.
The other thing that bugs me about the DH is this: Why does he have to hit for the pitcher? I’m pretty sure that the Minnesota Twins, for example, would be better off hitting for Nick Punto when Livan Hernandez is on the mound.
Just sayin’…
{democracy:41}

I forgot to mention that Jim Thome knocked his 500th career home run over the weekend. In light of Thome’s homer, the inevitable question of whether he is a Hall of Famer has surfaced. My first reaction was that he’s an absolute no-brainer, but then I looked at his numbers, which tell a different story.
The homers are nice, as is the career OPS+ of 149. But the fact that he has fewer than 2000 hits will work against Thome, as will the fact that he’s turned into a full-time DH toward the backside of his career.
That said, the guy just …read more