Knuckle Curve » frank thomas http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve Major League Baseball News from Spring Training to the World Series Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:47:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Frank Thomas Signs with the Athletics http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/frank-thomas-signs-with-the-athletics/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/frank-thomas-signs-with-the-athletics/#comments Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:07:31 +0000 Stephen Kersey http://www.knucklecurve.com/frank-thomas-signs-with-the-athletics/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> After clearing waivers, Frank Thomas signed a one-year contract with the Oakland Athletics. We reported soon after Thomas was released by the Toronto Blue Jays that the Athletics had interest in the Big Hurt and the pairing became official on Thursday.

Thomas and the A’s wasted no time, as Thomas was in the lineup for the A’s on Thursday. Oakland responded positively, beating the Minnesota Twins 11-2. Thomas batted cleanup and had two walks and a run scored.

While Thomas is batting just .159 on the season, the A’s are confident that the 39-year-old will be able to turn it around. Last season, Thomas struggled in the first half of the season but shined after the All-Star game. In 252 at bats after the All-Star game, Thomas hit .306 with 12 homers and 52 RBIs.

Thomas seemed happy with his first showing as a new member of the A’s. Said Thomas to the Associated Press: “I didn’t feel out of place. It really felt like I just left. I’m happy to be back. I’m happy to shake the rust off today because they pitched me tough. I’m sure their game plan was not to give in because they knew I missed a whole week, so they threw some sliders and breaking balls and ran the ball in on me. I’m just happy we got a big win.”

Thomas played for the Blue Jays in 2006 and had 39 homers and 114 RBIs, while batting .270.

Frank Thomas

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons from Frank Thomas’ previous stint with the A’s.

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]]> http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/frank-thomas-signs-with-the-athletics/feed/ 0 Frank Thomas Cut – Big Hurt Destinations? http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/frank-thomas-cut-big-hurt-destinations/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/frank-thomas-cut-big-hurt-destinations/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:18:58 +0000 Stephen Kersey http://www.knucklecurve.com/frank-thomas-cut-big-hurt-destinations/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> 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 DH now, most notably Matt Stairs. Stairs struggles in the field but he’s capable of swinging a big bat.

Watch as Frank Thomas hits his 500th career homer:

Where will Thomas end up? Despite his age and his slow start to the season, many teams will be interested. A return to the Oakland A’s is a possibility. The Seattle Mariners could use an upgrade at DH. The Texas Rangers were interested in Thomas a few years ago and could again make a run.

Thomas will end up somewhere, the questions is whether or not he’ll get a fulltime gig as a team’s DH. If he doesn’t, Thomas would likely retire before accepting a limited role.

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]]> http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/frank-thomas-cut-big-hurt-destinations/feed/ 2 More Fun with Career Projections http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/more-fun-with-career-projections/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/more-fun-with-career-projections/#comments Sun, 03 Feb 2008 04:10:20 +0000 Geoff Young http://www.knucklecurve.com/more-fun-with-career-projections/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> While I’m waiting for Puppy Bowl IV to arrive, I thought I’d flip through the STATS 1997 Baseball Scoreboard for inspiration. I’ve already used this source to re-examine Barry Bonds and now I see that there are a few more projections in here.

This time we’re looking at projected career hits. Specifically we’re looking at the players who were judged at that time most likely to reach 3000 hits. Let’s compare projected with actual, shall we?

Career Hits, Projected pre-’97 vs Actual post-’07
Player Proj Act Diff
Cal Ripken Jr. 3166 3184 +18
Tony Gwynn 3139 3141 +2
Wade Boggs 3025 3010 -15
Roberto Alomar 2803 2724 -79
Rafael Palmeiro 2672 3020 +348
Chuck Knoblauch 2509 1839 -670
Frank Thomas 2355 2409 +54
Marquis Grissom 2328 2251 -77
Alex Rodriguez 2151 2250 +99

Points worth noting:

  • Those projections for Ripken, Gwynn, and Boggs are almost perfect; the Alomar and Grissom projections aren’t bad either.
  • Estimates for Palmeiro turned out to be very low, while those for Knoblauch are very high. Through age 30, Knoblauch posted numbers comparable to those of Lou Whitaker. After that, Knoblauch turned into Kevin Stocker. Ouch.
  • A-Rod provides yet another reminder of why it’s dangerous to work with such small samples. He’d had precisely one full big-league season under his belt when these projections were published. Granted, it was a great season, but the fact remains that he’s blown past his career projection and he’s still in his prime. A-Rod is looking like a real good bet to finish at the top of the above list.

Just a little something to contemplate…

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