Jim Thome is embarrassing himself and the team is suffering because of him

[zero1]

Wow, does he look horrible. I knew it was a terrible idea to add another DH to this team (especially one that is past his prime in Thome) but he is even worse than I expected him to be. Gardenhire intentionally walked JJ Hardy and his .217 batting average twice to get to Thome this series and both times Thome failed miserably. There is no reason to not pinch hit Pearce today but because of Buck's obsession with the old "track record" he didn't.

Not only has he been horrible at the plate but he makes the defense even worse than it was before he got here. I'm not saying that Avery is Gardner in LF but I would much rather him in LF than Davis. Also, he would add speed to the lineup that is desperately needed. So, instead of having a OF who adds much needed speed to the team playing in LF and having Davis at DH where he belongs the team has a washed up DH and a DH playing LF.

He's a great guy from what I read and it's not his fault that regardless of who the manager or gm is that the O's are in love with over the hill players. It's also not his fault that Buck bats him in the middle of the order, but he is embarrassing himself at this point and should strongly consider retiring for his own good and also the good of the team.

[VeveJones007]

.347 OBP (tied with Nick for best on the team), but hopefully he can start driving the ball.

[Redgrape]

overreaction ITT.

[JDubs]

OP and I can certainly agree that someone is embarrassing themselves. I suspect we'll disagree on who that person is though.

[Va Beach O's fan]

I won't go as far as to say as that he is embarrassing himself, but I'd much rather have either McClouth or Lew Ford on this team right now, available to pinch hit or even provide us with a solid leadoff man or number 2 hitter as opposed to Jim Thome clogging up the middle of the lineup with a bad back and little to no power left in that bat.

There is a reason we got him for scraps. It's not because he is the Jim Thome of old. I said it literally the day the trade was made, he's a banged up, middle aged DH with a bad back who can't hit left handed pitching anymore. Not to mention, he's on a team FULL of DH types who are pretty much in the exact same boat, solid against left or right handed pitching, terrible against the other.

We have absolutely ZERO need for him on this team. The offense hasn't picked up since he arrived, it's gotten worse. I'd much rather have a decent leadoff or number 2 hitter like McClouth, Hoes or Ford batting behind Markakis (or better yet, switch Markakis back to the 2 and hit any of those 3 leadoff) and then drop Hardy down to 7th or 8th.

How does that not make sense? How is batting Jim's corpse third and JJ "sub .100 batting average" over his last 100 at-bats Hardy 2 make more sense? Bad bad managing and GM'ing. Sorry, even the most blindest of homers has to see what a bad idea this is.

[LA2]

Wow, does he look horrible. I knew it was a terrible idea to add another DH to this team (especially one that is past his prime in Thome) but he is even worse than I expected him to be. Gardenhire intentionally walked JJ Hardy and his .217 batting average twice to get to Thome this series and both times Thome failed miserably. There is no reason to not pinch hit Pearce today but because of Buck's obsession with the old "track record" he didn't.

Not only has he been horrible at the plate but he makes the defense even worse than it was before he got here. I'm not saying that Avery is Gardner in LF but I would much rather him in LF than Davis. Also, he would add speed to the lineup that is desperately needed. So, instead of having a OF who adds much needed speed to the team playing in LF and having Davis at DH where he belongs the team has a washed up DH and a DH playing LF.

He's a great guy from what I read and it's not his fault that regardless of who the manager or gm is that the O's are in love with over the hill players. It's also not his fault that Buck bats him in the middle of the order, but he is embarrassing himself at this point and should strongly consider retiring for his own good and also the good of the team.

By the same reasoning, how do you account for the fact that Thome walked three times in the game before this one? In his last three games, JT is 4 for 11 plus three walks. I'll take that and just assume for now that the home runs will come, as they did when he was with the Phillies a month ago. The singles, doubles, and a few flyouts have all been hit very hard and he only has 40-some ABs with us.

As for Buck's use of him, Thome started only two of the four games against Minnesota and two of the three games in Anaheim. Very different from his use of Derrek Lee and Vlad last year.

[Frobby]

I was against the trade because I didn't see the fit. I'm not ready to say Thome is embarrassing himself or that there is no power left in his bat. Home run hitters are streaky and I suspect Thome will have some hot spells. But he's not filling a strategic need and his skill set is too similar to players who were already here.

[wildcard]

If Vlad is any indication the O's will never release future HOFer Thome no matter how bad he hits. That would be disrespecting the game in Buck's mind.

[crissfan172]

.347 OBP (tied with Nick for best on the team), but hopefully he can start driving the ball.

Yup. I've actually thought he looked pretty good so far. It's nice to see someone come to the plate with a good approach and understanding of the strikezone. He hasn't flashed his power yet, but it's not like we're dealing with a large sample size here either.

[Triple Crown]

I was against the trade because I didn't see the fit. I'm not ready to say Thome is embarrassing himself or that there is no power left in his bat. Home run hitters are streaky and I suspect Thome will have some hot spells. But he's not filling a strategic need and his skill set is too similar to players who were already here.

Disagree with the fact that his skill set is similar to previous players. Thome is a professional hitter who works the count and takes plenty of walks, which on this team, other than Reynolds is non-existent. He hasn't stepped up in the power department, as of yet, but I have no problem at all with the Thome acquisition.

[weams]

Disagree with the fact that his skill set is similar to previous players. Thome is a professional hitter who works the count and takes plenty of walks, which on this team, other than Reynolds is non-existent. He hasn't stepped up in the power department, as of yet, but I have no problem at all with the Thome acquisition.

And I'll just say that you summorized my feelings.

[LA2]

If Vlad is any indication the O's will never release future HOFer Thome no matter how bad he hits. That would be disrespecting the game in Buck's mind.

As mentioned in my earlier post, Buck's use of Thome is very different from how Lee and Guerrero were used last season. He doesn't start against LHP and has been moved around the lineup.

[Frobby]

Disagree with the fact that his skill set is similar to previous players. Thome is a professional hitter who works the count and takes plenty of walks, which on this team, other than Reynolds is non-existent. He hasn't stepped up in the power department, as of yet, but I have no problem at all with the Thome acquisition.

He's a 1B/DH who strikes out a lot and has some power. That makes him redundant of Reynolds and Davis, and it forces Davis to the OF, which is not very desireable IMO. He's certainly a more patient hitter than Davis, but to me this is a year in which Davis needs to play most days, show us what he can do, and work on the weaknesses in his offensive game. I'd rather have him doing that at 1B/DH than doing that while trying to be a serviceable LF. Also, this was already a slow, strikeout-prone team, and Thome just adds to that element. None of this is a knock on Thome, I just don't like the fit, unless the Orioles trade Reynolds, in which case I like the fit much better.

[LA2]

Wow, does he look horrible. I knew it was a terrible idea to add another DH to this team (especially one that is past his prime in Thome) but he is even worse than I expected him to be. Gardenhire intentionally walked JJ Hardy and his .217 batting average twice to get to Thome this series and both times Thome failed miserably. There is no reason to not pinch hit Pearce today but because of Buck's obsession with the old "track record" he didn't.

Not only has he been horrible at the plate but he makes the defense even worse than it was before he got here. I'm not saying that Avery is Gardner in LF but I would much rather him in LF than Davis. Also, he would add speed to the lineup that is desperately needed. So, instead of having a OF who adds much needed speed to the team playing in LF and having Davis at DH where he belongs the team has a washed up DH and a DH playing LF.

He's a great guy from what I read and it's not his fault that regardless of who the manager or gm is that the O's are in love with over the hill players. It's also not his fault that Buck bats him in the middle of the order, but he is embarrassing himself at this point and should strongly consider retiring for his own good and also the good of the team.

The comparison Gardenhire was looking at was not the .217 Hardy vs. the .240 Thome, but Hardy's .289/.347 against LHP this season (98 PAs) vs. Thome's .160/.222 against them. Gardenhire also wanted to set up DP possibilities.

[Whammer]

The one thing I can't figure out is why we chose Thome over Youkolis. Youk wore out his welcome with Bobby V. and had to go. In return, Boston got a RP and a 28-Y.O. utility infielder.

Youk appears to be thriving in Chicago. .315 BA, 4 HRs, 18 RBIs in 19 games. Plays a decent 3B - which would have been a real bonus for the O's.

Yeah - I hope Thome gets red hot and carries the offense for a month or so. If not, well . . . wouldn't that be typical?