April 20th in 2008 Season, Callum, Commentary, Toronto Blue Jays by Callum Hughson .
Calman’s Dad on the Big Hurt Situation
Calman’s Dad on the Big Hurt Situation
Who is the American League Player of the Week? John Gibbons. Why?
Because he kicked the Big Hurt’s ass right out of the park! It is good to see JP own up to his mistakes and just cut his losses by releasing the hurt who did nothing but hurt this team. The Jays didn’t screw Thomas out of his $10 million, the Hurt screwed himself. Matty Stairs is a far better hitter than Frank and he can run and play a position or 2 as well. I believe his career is over. Who’s going to want him now?
April 20, 2008
As long as JP is a GM anywhere he’s going to have a tough time signing anybody to an incentive contract. In the recent years he’s brought in many players via a minimum deal with a similar salary bump to Thomas (PA, IP, Starts, etc).
Agents are going to steer their players clear of the T-Dot after this fiasco, just another in a growing list.
In the short term this is a good move but the big picture (which the Jays & JP seem to forget with this type of action and the number of backloaded contracts) certainly takes a hit here.
April 21, 2008
I’m not sure I agree that this incident will affect the signing of future players. If anything, it will help their cause. It sends a message that the team is committed to winning and is not going to run out a player hitting .167 just because of his contract even if he is hurting the team. Similar parallels could be drawn to the Juan Pierre situation in LA last year. If I am a free agent, do I want to go to a team that isn’t fielding the best team possible just because they sunk $55 million into a marginal player and won’t admit their mistake? I want to go to a team that will win at all costs, politcal correctness or not. Put out the best team possible to compete on the field. As for a player not wanting to sign an incentive laden contract because he is worried he will get booted if he is hitting below the Mendoza Line all season, I am not sure the Jays should be going after that player in the first place.
April 22, 2008
“I want to go to a team that will win at all costs, politcal correctness or not.”
What we want and say as fans is a far cry from what really goes on. Did Rowand take the cash in San Fran to win? The same can be said with most FA’s these days (take going to KC, etc)
If I’m a FA player making less than fair market value during my arb years or trying to play my way back into a $$$ MLB role I want A) Cash & B) to play. Winning doesn’t mean much if I’m riding the pine. An agent isn’t going to be running his client towards a situation where he isn’t going to play because it will devalue his future earning ability. This is a business for the franchises, the players and the agents. Thinking that winning is the A+ priority is just naive and more of a fan perspective.
April 22, 2008
Why would the Jays want to throw a ton of cash at a player who isn’t going to play anyway? As far as A) cash is concerned, the Jays have proven they aren’t too stuck up to throw it around with the contracts of Burnett, Ryan, Wells, Rios etc. etc. With B) It doesn’t make sense for the Jays to throw ca$h at a player who won’t play, and it doesn’t make sense for a player who is trying to play his way back into an MLB role to sign with the Jays if there is no room for him. There is no point in worrying about these players being steered-clear of the Jays by their agents because they wouldn’t have an impact anyway. It is irrelevant.
April 22, 2008
If a player is going to throw a hissy fit to the media when he is benched for having terrible at-bat after terrible at-bat what would you recommend K-Man? Firing Gibbons for recognizing a weakness on the team? Or firing JP for relasing a player who has been having terrible at-bat after terrible at-bat and whining to the media that he deserves a chance to play to improve his .167 average so he can earn another $10mil.
Jays should have cleaned house so that Thomas would be able to do what he wanted. Include hit .167.
The Hurt was one of my favs in the 1990s and I loved him coming to the Jays. I think he was privatley offended when he realised he could not keep up with a heater anymore and was even more offended when Gibby, JP and anyone who watched Jays games knew it too. Time to hang it up Frank, you had a good run.
April 22, 2008
In 16 games Thomas had 11 RBI, a pace of 111. He also had 3 HR, a pace of 30 for a full season. The .167 start isn’t pretty but he did this last season. The low average is also a nice piece to float to the media. Average is still an important stat to the average Jays fan. Stairs has a pretty average of .326 but is slugging under .400 with 3 RBI. I say release Stairs as well.
The treatment of Burnett by JP publicly in the past should send him running after this season. Wells is overpaid, BJ is now suspect on the injury front and Rios was an Ash left-over that wanted to get paid vs getting stuck with low level arbitration salaries.
With just 60 AB the Jays pulled the trigger too soon. The damage done long term via future contracts will be damaging, mark my words on it. FA’s will not come to Toronto unless they are given a long-term deal or a salary premium vs other ball clubs. Why would anyone want to sign a one to two year deal with a vested option?
The Jays still have to eat $8 mil of Thomas’ 2008 contract.
Lost in all of this is the cluster-fuck of signing Thomas in the first place. Everyone pats JP & the boys for cutting Frank loose but no one comments on the idiocy of signing him in the first place.
Any depth that was afforded to the Jays by having Lind in AAA is now gone. If any injury comes about there are few to no viable replacement options.
If you guys want to tow the Fan 590 line feel free.
April 22, 2008
True, the JP signing of Thomas in the first place was a mistake. Who would ever want to sign a two year deal with a vested option? An aging slugger past his prime trying to hang on to reach personal goals.
Re: Burnett. He will be running not because of any mistreatment. by JP, but because he has an opt out clause and is going to get PAID due to the inflated market for pitchers.
Re: Stairs. Stairs also has 16 less AB and hits in different spots in the order than Hurt does so it is difficult to compare their RBI totals on a level playing field.
I don’t understand the Lind/depth comment. How has their depth been hurt?
April 22, 2008
I still don’t think signing Thomas was a huge mistake. Ted Rogers isn’t going to sweat the $8mil. Maybe he will just sell beers in the 500 level again to make up for it. I don’t care either and it is obvious the Jays don’t care they are paying $10mil to the Hurt for his 60 AB.
Thomas’ numbers are not as bad as his play has been. His average, HR, RBI numbers are bloated. He still cannot play a posiiton in the field. If you have seen any games, which I assume you haven’t, his ABs have been terrible. He seems to have lost his eye, his bad speed is slower than Apr of last year and he seems lost.
I love your pro-rating 60 ABs. I prorate him to 90 hits and 9 doubles, why didn’t you mention that? Every pitcher seemed to be coming at him with a first pitch fastball down the pipe. Those are pitches he should crush a la Del Carmen. Thomas has been taking that one like he is suprised and he is chronically behind in the count. Bad, bad, bad at-bats.
April 22, 2008
Frank was on pace for 100+ walks, so I’m not going to discount his eye. To me catching the Jays first couple of games against the Yankees on the tube he looked fairly similar to last season. It’s either going to be an extra base hit or nothing. He isn’t hitting too many pouch singles, and I’d bet that a good percentage of his singles would be doubles for most players.
Again 60 AB isn’t much of a sample but Thomas still had more HR than your self proclaimed future best RF & 2B in Rios & Hill. I don’t see anyone throwing Overbay overboard with his .279/.388/.338 line with 0 HR.
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Re: “Who would ever want to sign a two year deal with a vested option? An aging slugger past his prime trying to hang on to reach personal goals.”
These short-term deals with an option could also apply to someone like Matt Stairs. If given another option, a player such as Stairs will likely skip the T-Dot for a team/gm that he and importantly his agent think will deliver the playing time and opportunity.
April 23, 2008
Last year he was hitting the pooch singles. He had one of the lowest SLG% of his career last year, well below his career average. Thomas probably turns triples into doubles. No ML player can expect to routinely turn a pooch single into a double.
I am confused if you like the all or nothing approach. If Thomas isn’t getting those doubles, he is clogging up the basepaths and probably not driving in the runs he is expected to do.
April 29, 2008
On Jays connected, while in a Blue Jay uniform Frank Thomas said “with this much talent on the team you have to preform or you’ll be sittin on the bench” with a big smile on his face. They didn’t say when the quote was from.