Frank Thomas Doesn't Look So Washed Up

When the Blue Jays released Frank Thomas last Sunday, they did so because they felt that Frank was breaking down and wouldn't be able to contribute the offensive production the team needed from him. Originally they just wanted to bury him on the bench, but after Frank complained (nothing new there) he and the team decided it was best to part ways.

Now no matter what the Blue Jays say in this situation, I refuse to believe the team let Thomas go because of his play (or was it the lack of high fives), and that it had a lot more to do with not wanting to pay him $10 million next season. I mean, considering general manager J.P. Ricciardi is one of them newfangled "stat geeks" runnin' baseball teams these days, there's no way he would think the small sample size of the 60 at bats Thomas had had up to that point were enough to make a judgement on.

So instead the Blue Jays just decided to let Frank go, and pay him $8 million to play for somebody else. Well, hell hath no fury like a Big Hurt scorned, because Frank has been tearing the cover off the ball since joining the Oakland Athletics.

In his first five games with Oakland, Frank is hitting .313 with an OBP of .476 and an OPS of .914. The man even tripled yesterday. That's right, Frank Thomas tripled, and the game still managed to take under five hours to complete.

In other words, life is good for the Big Hurt right now. Not only is he hitting well and proving his doubters in Toronto wrong so far, but he's gone from a last place team in the AL East to the team with the best record in the American League right now.