Twins reach one-year deal with Thome

[Abndoc]

He's Back!!! nice job twins. Can't wait to see some homers off the flag pole again!

[Dylan33]

I am so happy that this got done. Go Thome! Go Twins!

[jwmiller33]

very good news! i like thome a lot and he really stepped up huge when morneau went down last year. you can never go wrong with having a guy like him on your squad

i hear he likes to fish up north quite a bit too which moves him up a notch in my book. heard it from a guy at cabelas who has seen him come in and buy fishing stuff multiple times

[pegleg]

Great News and hopefully he hits his 600th dinger at Target Field...

[DonBo]

Sweet!

[mrklean]

cant wait to see him hit #600 as a twin

[Duffman]

Double thumbs up!!

[Greg Clusiau]

Absolutely wonderful!!

[hoppe56307]

How do you feel about the 3mil they are going to pay him.

[pegleg]

The $3 million is a steal... Think about it, they were paying Punto $4 million and something like $11 million to Cuddyer. If he comes close to doing what he did last year it is a bargain for the Twins.

[Slabasaurus]

This is excellent news.

[solbes]

Sweet, at least he didn't go to the dark side on the south side. He can keep dinging 'em off the flagpole for our team.

[Harmonica Bear]

Good news for sure. c'mon 600!

[zamboni]

Now I hope Gardy plays him 75%-85% of the time. And he stays healthy, good move by the Twins

[hanronson]

Fantastic news. I was hoping the Twins would re-sign him...too bad it's just for a year. If he stays healthy all year, I predict 40 dingers at least.

[jwmiller33]

here is a good breakdown of the Thome signing by twins beat writer Aaron Gleeman:

Quote:

Jim Thome shopped around this offseason, with his agent floating talk of a two-year contract and the Rangers emerging late as legitimate suitors for the 40-year-old slugger, but yesterday Thome turned down Texas' offer and returned to Minnesota for one year and just $3 million in upfront money. Signing him for $1.5 million plus incentives was the best move any team made last winter and the same may be true of keeping him for $3 million plus incentives this winter.

As a left-handed hitter who struggles versus left-handed pitching Thome isn't quite the perfect fit for the Twins' lefty heavy lineup, but ultimately handedness should take a clear backseat to overall production and Thome batted .283/.412/.627 with 25 homers and 60 walks in 340 plate appearances last season to join Justin Morneau, Josh Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, and Albert Pujols as the only MLB hitters with a 1.000 OPS in at least 300 trips to the plate.

Thome is unlikely to repeat that MVP-caliber production because no 40-year-old hitter has ever come within even 100 points of the 1.039 OPS he had at age 39, but he could lose 200 points of OPS this season in what would be the worst full season of his career and still be the Twins' third-best hitter. He's an elite bat coming off an amazing year in a part-time role and the Twins re-signed him for less than they paid Nick Punto last season. Perfect fit? No. Great move? Yes.

Thome started just 34 of 84 games prior to Morneau's concussion on July 7, so Thome's return combined with a healthy Morneau would create the same lineup logjam with five good hitters (Thome, Morneau, Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel) for just four spots. And if healthy Morneau is going to play nearly every day, so that would mean one of Thome, Young, Cuddyer, or Kubel on the bench for each game.

Against right-handed pitchers the simple solution would be to bench Cuddyer, who batted just .265/.307/.393 versus righties last season and hit a combined .261/.319/.423 off them during the past three years. In theory sitting Cuddyer against most right-handers should be an easy call, but Ron Gardenhire has shown nothing to suggest he'd be willing to platoon him and in fact Cuddyer has almost never been a healthy scratch at any point in the past five seasons.

My hope is Gardenhire will realize Thome is so spectacular versus righties--clobbering them to the tune of .302/.455/.698 last year and .266/.396/.543 from 2008-2010--that he must be in the lineup whenever one is on the mound, but that certainly wasn't the case before Morneau's concussion forced Thome into a bigger role. Assuming everyone is healthy, any game Thome is not starting versus a righty is a game the Twins likely didn't put their best lineup out there.

Choosing a lineup against righties will be tough for Gardenhire because of the logjam created by Thome's return, but choosing a lineup against lefties will be tough because the Twins simply don't have enough capable right-handed bats right now. Thome hit .228/.321/.481 off lefties from 2008-2010, which is mediocre at best for a designated hitter yet dwarfs Kubel's measly .233/.312/.351 line off lefties during that same time.

Much like Jacque Jones before him Kubel should almost never be in the lineup against lefties, but he started 38 of the team's 56 games versus a left-hander last season and had 183 plate appearances off southpaws overall. Thome is a far better option than Kubel versus lefties, but doesn't actually qualify as a good option versus them and sitting Thome when southpaws start would make it easy to keep the 40-year-old well rested as he joins the 600-homer club.

Bringing back Thome for $3 million in guaranteed money is a no-brainer, but the Twins will only receive the full benefit of the great move by actually playing him over Cuddyer against righties. And while bringing back Thome at a bargain price doesn't do anything to balance their lineup versus left-handed pitching, the Twins should have been looking for a right-handed bench bat anyway and can still address the issue by signing any number of free agents at minimal cost.

He's not the perfect fit, but retaining a middle-of-the-order monster for the 100 games started by righties is a lot more important than finding a solid right-handed bat capable of beating up lefties for the other one-third of the schedule. And the great move can become even better if Gardenhire starts Thome against righties more often than he did prior to Morneau's concussion and the Twins add a righty bench bat decent enough that Thome isn't needed versus lefties.

[mainbutter]

Adding Thome to the team last season was the best thing the Twins did that entire year. Not only did he help us make it to the playoffs, but he's just a fun guy to watch and cheer for.

I have my Countdown to 600 poster in progress

[Chad Peterson]

Regardless, we need a HR bat in the lineup. Also, he is a class guy!

Sniffer

[greebs]

he's a great guy and by far their biggest long ball threat. wish he was right handed and could run better but if he could run better he probably would be playing somewhere else for more money so really can't complain.

[Trucks]

This adds some much needed depth in the power catagory. I definatly didn't think we would be able to retain him but I think he felt Minnesota was right for him and his family. Now he's working on pavano. It would be remarkable if he resigns too but for now I'll be happy with Thome. Great job twins.

[WyoChris]

[harvey lee]

Big Jim is the worth the 3 mil. We will sure be able to use his power.

I wish they could also pick up one very good starter.

[hcmpls1]

The guy is a class act all around. He took less money to stay here because Minnesota is where he wants to be!

Also, I loved Thome's text message he send to Pavano after he signed the one year deal:

Quote:

"Listen, I did my job, now it's time to do yours. Let's get it going. You belong in a Twins uniform. That's where we need to be. Let's have some fun, and let's challenge each other again like we did last year, make each other better, and let's do this"

[redseal]

hope this isnt the favre of baseball......

[greebs]

hope this isnt the favre of baseball......

don't worry. Thome is a team player. if he reaches the point where he can't run to first base any more, he won't insist that he can still play.