Don't Look Now- Latest Thome vs. Thomas Comparison

by spengler on Sep 12, 2006 2:05 PM CDT

Going into today's play

Frank Thomas (120 games):
410 AB; 36 HR; 98 RBI; .283 AVG; .396 OBP; .566 SLG; .961 OPS

Jim Thome (127 games):
442 AB; 39 HR; 97 RBI; .292 AVG; .415 OBP; .609 SLG; 1.024 OPS

Thome has more runs (102-71) doubles (23-8) and walks (91-73) but also more K's (129-70).

No matter what happens for the rest of the season, both players have far exceeded my predictions for them. While Thome maintains the statistical edge, Frank's recent hot streak is making this a very interesting comparison.

Knowing the Big Hurt, he will be highly motivated when the Sox pull into Oakland on Friday.

Draw whatever conclusions you want.

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The real question with Thomas is...

how long will he stay healthy, and will he be healthy next year. The performance isn't what's out of line, the health is.

That sort of thing is left up to chance. The A's can afford to take that risk and the White Sox can't.

Nobody deserves to come back strong more than the Big Hurt, though, and I'm happy for him.

by Stealfirstbase on Sep 12, 2006 2:39 PM CDT reply actions

Also, .283 would be...

...Thomas' best batting average since 2000.

by Stealfirstbase on Sep 12, 2006 2:40 PM CDT reply actions

Thome's Splits

Thome obviously has won a lot of ballgames for us this year, but I m really woriied about his nubers against left handers. He only has 721 OPS against them and seems to strike-out a lot in situation when he only needs to make contact.

Thome would be an awful expensive platoon candidate, and he's more likely to get worse than better.

Frank is a bit more consistent against both righties and lefties which gives him a considerable advantage right now.

by buda on Sep 12, 2006 3:02 PM CDT reply actions

Frank rules

and in my heart, I'd rather have him than Thome. But even with Frank playing great, KW's move was the correct one. There was an incredible amount of risk in retaining Frank, much more so than the Thome injury risk. But no matter how Frank does, Thome has hardly been a disappointment. I mean, we had to suffer with Everett as the DH last season.

by Bull Pain on Sep 12, 2006 3:03 PM CDT reply actions

Everett

I wouldn't say we suffered with Carl Everett at DH last year. After all, the guy did hit over 20 homers, knock in close to 90 RBI and hit over .400 in the World Series. If anything was sufferable about Carl, it was mostly his mouth, but you can't deny he was a key part of the team last year.

by smbrand on Sep 12, 2006 3:23 PM CDT reply actions

Key part?

I think not.

The guy had a .745 OPS last year. The league average OPS was .766, making his OPS+ 94. Yes, that's right -- our designated hitter was a below average hitter. Off the top of my head, I can't come up with a DH worse than Everett last season. There might have been one or two, but I doubt any more than that.

by CWSKeith on Sep 12, 2006 3:43 PM CDT reply actions

Everett

I hate to pile on, but yes we did suffer Everett last year. Especially with Ozzie taking five months to take him out of the three spot. All this while Gload tore up AAA.

by buda on Sep 12, 2006 3:59 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm not sure what annoyed me more

Ozzie's refusal to bench Everett in favor of PK DHing and Gload starting at first, or Ozzie's Mack/Anderson/Pods debacle this year.

I suppose it would be the former, becuase this time last year I thought we would be doomed to hear about the 2005 collapse for the rest of our lives. And since I live on the northside, that would have been unbearable. This time, the stakes aren't quite so high.

by chrome on Sep 12, 2006 5:34 PM CDT up reply actions

I'd rather have Thomas at this point.

We have to look post-all star break. Thomas started off cold and Thome hot, now it's all vice-versa. Thome has sucked it up the past two months, and he's been less than clutch when we have really needed him. No on expected this out of Thomas, but we would benefit big time from his bat right about now. Oh well.

by Los Soxos on Sep 12, 2006 4:34 PM CDT reply actions

Frank is carrying the A's

Frank has been incredible since May 22. Prior to that he was hitting .178. Since then:
.325/.433/.644/1.077/25/70 (BA/OBA/SP/OPS/HR/RBI)

That's 4th in OPS (behind only Howard, Ramirez, Hafner), 5th in HR, and 12th in RBI over that time period. The A's are a weak ballclub offensively--Frank has been carrying them for weeks, even before his HR streak.

(Disclaimer: this is not to say that letting him go was a bad idea--I agreed with it. But it is great to see Frank back to form.)

by Fred Manrique on Sep 12, 2006 5:05 PM CDT reply actions

as reifert points out on his blog

both thome ($8 million) and thomas ($3.1 million or so) probably can be considered good buys considering their production this year. of course, thomas is the better one but with higher risk comes the potential for higher reward.

one other thing to keep in mind about the thome deal: PK has said repeatedly that one of the main factors in him returning was the acquisition of thome. i'd much rather have thome + PK than thomas + whatever free agent 1B was out there last year.

by larry on Sep 12, 2006 7:01 PM CDT reply actions