J.P. Ricciardi: Jays Cut Big Hurt to Save Chemistry, Not Dollars

There's no love lost between the Blue Jays and Frank Thomas, who was released last week after struggling in his first 60 at-bats. Not surprisingly, it didn't take long for Thomas to find work, signing with the A's earlier today. So went wrong in Toronto? Hearing J.P. Ricciardi tell it, they were worried he wasn't a team player. From the National Post:

After being benched, Frank Thomas told the GM all he needed to know by refusing to go on the field with his teammates after Saturday's victory. "You're either part of the team or you're not," Ricciardi said. "It's not real hard to go out there and shake hands. I don't think that's a tough thing to do. I think that was probably the start of letting us really realize this is not going to work with Frank here and not playing, because obviously we were going to be 24 guys instead of 25 and it was probably going to alienate the clubhouse a little bit. That's why everybody reacted the way we reacted."

Oh, okay, This makes sense. The team cut loose a guy they still have to pay $8 million this year no matter what because he was a little grumpy after being benched. That $10 million option for 2009 that would've become guaranteed had Thomas tallied 316 more at-bats this year? I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. No sir, nothing at all.