is better than what we have now…
as long as it’s cheap protection.

It would be the exact opposite of what this club should be doing and the exact thing that this club has spent too many dollars doing in the past. For another thing, Thomas has hit like shit this year.

It’s a terrible, horrible idea. He makes sense for Seattle. He makes none for us.

Steve Phillips says LOTS of things. Where will Baltimore play him? Over Millar or Huff? Why bring in a 40-year old man to take plate appearances away from two guys you hope to trade?

Where will Oakland play him? They have Jack Cust AND Mike Sweeney.

Here’s the deal. Steve Phillips - who is an idiot - went, “Well, he played in Oakland before and they liked him, and Baltimore is 11-8 and needs a hitter if they hope to contend…”

Seattle makes sense. It’s where I figure he’ll wind up.

mlb traderumors just brought up a great point: seattle has no business talking to him! jeff clement is KILLING the ball at aaa right now.

batting near .400, ops is 1.218…c’mon, [seattle] dudes. let him play!

Signing The Big Hurt makes as much baseball sense as signing Barry Bonds for the O’s. April has been nice, but don’t fool yourselves – this team isn’t contending for anything besides staying out of fifth.

Thomas would simply eat up a roster spot that should be going to Scott Moore or Eider Torres or Alex Cintron any minute now. You would be getting the same player as Aubrey Huff (gee, starts slow in April and May…where have I heard that before?) and he’s 39 – he CANNOT play the field.

Actually, that’s a disservice to Huff – Huff can at least give Millar a day off at 1B and as we’ve seen, do emergency duty at 3B. Thomas would never take the field. Even if we used him off the bench, you’d STILL need to make another sub to take the field.

I realize it’s tempting because TOR is on the hook for that contract and whomever signs him will get him cheap, but he would serve no useful purpose in Baltimore. None.

He’ll be hired by a mentally defective spoiled brat who’s accomplished nothing on his own & owes his position entirely to his father, a father he secretly despises.

Yes, people, Frank Thomas will soon be named US Attorney General.

does anyone here really think we are a “Frank Thomas” away from contending?! really? it would be the dumbest of the dumb moves to go after thomas. first, its a waste of money. second, no one comes to ballgames to see frank thomas anymore. third, you really want a surly me-first player leaving an impression on guys like jones, kakes, etc? fourth, its the exact kinda thing this team has done for years that we all get on them for continuously. and fifth, we’re rebuilding. thomas does NOT make the o’s lineup fierce, scary, deep, or any other adjective describing a good offensive lineup. they wouldnt be real contenders with him (at least anymore then they are now), and if anyone was willing to trade for him, they’d pick him up themselves. DONT DO IT.

I would love to see Frank Thomas as a short timer on this team if it were Frank Thomas v.2005. (I have no idea what his ‘03 stats were, but he was 3 years younger & that’s my point).

As it is we have a logjam of old dudes who don’t do any one thing particularly well.
No, thank you. And if MacPhail starts making moves designed to put asses in the seats he’s completely lost his mind.

I guess you could say that it’s much more reasonable to believe that Thomas will bounce back in comparison to Huff. Thus Thomas could be traded in July for a prospect. In contrast, a bounch back and a trade is much more unlikely with Huff. I would still pass though. The benefit of Thomas seems potentially small, might as well tough it out with Huff.

Either Frank Thomas or Barry Bonds would both probably help the Orioles more than Aubrey Huff does.

Bonds led the Majors in on-base percentage last year by a wide margin and hit 28 home runs in less than 400 at bats. He was easily more productive in a limited capacity than anyone on the Orioles last year. Thomas was also more productive offensively than any Oriole last year.

As for their me-first, clubhouse cancer reputations. Who cares? If they hit the way they hit last year (which is a big if), they would make the Orioles better. I don’t think Nick Markakis’ development will be stunted by Barry Bonds recliner in the locker room or Frank Thomas being a surly asshole and there is no younger player from which either of them would take away at-bats.

I’d sign either of them (or both) and give it a shot, but there is no way the Orioles would even dream of doing that.

I think Billy Beane makes a couple of good points.

“I don’t see this as an infringement on what we started in December when we traded Dan (Haren), but we have a responsibility to take advantage of opportunities like this,” A’s general manager Billy Beane said before the matinee finale of a three-game series against the visiting Twins at McAfee Stadium.

“Are we trying to develop a young team? Yeah, but we are not running an instructional league. We are running a professional sports franchise.”

“He looks in great shape,” Beane said during batting practice. “He had a great year for us. He’s a great influence on the club. He’s a consummate pro. This was an opportunity that could not be passed up.”

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080424&content_id=2579786&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak

Cust was maybe marginally better than Frank Thomas last year, although they created about the same number of runs. His history doesn’t exactly inspire me though.

What bugs me about Cust is that he appeared in the Majors when he was 22 and has bounced around to a bunch of different teams that could have used some offensive help but still never managed to get more than 73 at bats until last year when he got 395. I can’t help but suspect the A’s got as much out of him as is possible just like they have with other marginal players. I wouldn’t be tomorrow lunch on him doing anything else.

I can’t help but suspect the A’s got as much out of him as is possible just like they have with other marginal players. I wouldn’t be tomorrow lunch on him doing anything

That may be so but my point is that it’s irrelevant. Thomas maybe makes them 1-3 wins better but that probably isn’t enought to push the A’s into the playoff. That’s why it’s a puzzling move. Whether Cust is better or Thomas is better is irrelevant because the A’s are rebuilding. Thomas has no long term future with the A’s. Cust does. Maybe the A’s got as much as they can out of him, but they’ll never know unless they try. When you’re a rebuilding team, you allowed to have the luxury of trying out guys who might not stick for the sake of finding long term players.