Should Bavasi pursue Frank Thomas?

[themedia]

With Frank Thomas being released by the Blue Jays, conventional wisdom seems to be saying the M's should go after him. I was of the mind that Bavasi should have gone after Bonds for OBP, HR, RBI, R, everything, and Thomas is like Bonds but not quite as good. I think they should go after him and put Vidro on the bench, although that would mean Bavasi would basically admit that trading for Vidro was a huge mistake. Any thoughts?

[SABR Matt]

Acquiring Thomas does no such thing.

Vidro produced a heck of a lot more than Snelling and Fruto did and his cost is not so high that it hamstrings the Mariners in the future.

And yes...I'm firmly in favor of acquiring Frank Thomas...even if we have to give him a one-year extension to do it.

He's not done as a hitter...his 11 BB/13 K ratio says otherwise. It's basically impossible to be a bad major league hitter and walk as often as you strike out. He is notoriously a slow starter and will rebound just fine IMHO.

[Rennie Stennett]

The Big Hurt

With Frank Thomas being released by the Blue Jays, conventional wisdom seems to be saying the M's should go after him. I was of the mind that Bavasi should have gone after Bonds for OBP, HR, RBI, R, everything, and Thomas is like Bonds but not quite as good.

Thomas doesn't have the baggage Bonds has, for sure. He's a slow starter. He's coming off two good seasons. He struggled in Spring Training and out of the gate, he was strugglin'. I think the Jays will be footing most of the bill. He's got more pop than Vidro, but Vidro is a switch hitter. Bavasi and perhaps Mac are in that win now scene. Taking a flyer on another old guy with minor league guys that appear to be ready to play in the bigs now is the big question. We allready have older vets that are strugglin. Big Frank wants to play all the time. Can we guarantee him that ? personally, I'm ready to bring the kids up and let them play - see what they got. Look at Oakland ? They traded for a bunch of guys and they are letting them play. The A's are hanging in there.

[Wade8813]

Since Toronto will foot almost the entire bill, I certainly wouldn't mind acquiring Thomas. Unlike Bonds, we wouldn't have to pay much of anything for Thomas, and Thomas isn't a clubhouse cancer.

While we do have young players who may be able to come up, I don't think it's that big of a deal. They'll still get a chance to develop, and should be able to see some play time. It's not like we have Adam Jones waiting to be called up any more...

[Disgruntaledmarinerfan]

I'm all for it. He really seems like a low risk type of player with at least some upside. I actually really hope the M's do go after him. oh yeah... he's also one of my all time favorite player.

*FWIW ESPN is reporting that The Athletics are going after Thomas.

[Rennie Stennett]

The Big Hurt

*FWIW ESPN is reporting that The Athletics are going after Thomas.

That's why Billy is an excellent operator. He dumped Thomas when he was expensive and he will pick him up when he is cheap.

[Disgruntaledmarinerfan]

That's why Billy is an excellent operator. He dumped Thomas when he was expensive and he will pick him up when he is cheap.

Simple economics: Buy low, sell high.
If only Bavasi could master this.....

[themedia]

OK, when I made this thread, it was basically a rhetorical question. OF COURSE BAVASI SHOULD GO AFTER THOMAS!!! If the A's sign Thomas for, oh I don't know, zip, and the M's go looking for power bats through some trade where they lose another prospect, Bavasi is going to look like an idiot.

Note to Bavasi: Don't let Billy Beane beat you on this one.

[Rennie Stennett]

Hey

it was basically a rhetorical question.

Don't be using such big words !

[Wade8813]

Simple economics: Buy low, sell high.
If only Bavasi could master this...

To be fair, the real world rarely works like that. Everyone knows that you should buy low and sell high. That's a sure-fire way to make a profit. So why doesn't everyone make a profit like that? Because you can't just do that. Also, what about buying high and selling higher? And what happens if you buy low, but have to sell even lower? It doesn't always work the way you want it to.