A new home for Thome
12/05/2002
Codding Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
I had every intention of bashing the new first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies this week. I was going to call him greedy and selfish and heartless, a liar and a sellout and a traitor. Basically, I was really going to lay into Jim Thome, lumping him in with the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi and Manny Ramirez, just a few of the star athletes who've recently abandoned their hometown fans for greener pastures.
Not to mention greener contracts.
But my stance has changed somewhat in the days since Thome, once considered the cornerstone of the Cleveland Indians franchise and a revered symbol of loyalty to Tribe fans everywhere, chose cheese steaks over the Jake... plus an extra $25 million. At first glance, the decision looks suspiciously money driven, a surprising development for a guy who publicly stated on several occasions his desire to retire on the Lake Erie shores. Now, instead of looking like Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken to Cleveland fans, Thome suddenly bears a striking resemblance to A-Rod, Giambi and, dare I say, Joey Belle, players apparently more concerned with dollars than devotion.
Don't get me wrong -- I still think Thome's decision was influenced by the amount of money the Phillies threw his way. But unfortunately, in this day and age, that mentality just doesn't affect me as much as it used to. He decided he couldn't leave $25 million on the table? Give the man a lobotomy -- what the hell was he thinking?
He's thinking that $25 million is a crapload of money. Sounds like logical reasoning to me, and it also sounds like a tough deal to pass up.
Let's be honest here and just admit that sports are forever changed. To most players, the numbers on their paychecks carry more significance than the numbers in the win column. Stadiums now display more corporate logos than the Internet. Loyalty is deader than the XFL.
It's the way it is, and yet we keep groaning about greedy players and stingy owners. Every time a hometown guy decides he wants a new hometown to go along with his new contract, we're all appalled. Why? Can't we just accept that this is what the sports world has mutated into? It's time to either accept the changes or give up the games.
I choose to accept it, no matter how painful it may be.
What I don't accept, though, is someone who's not true to his word. And that's where I have a major problem with Jim Thome. To a certain extent, I can handle this business transformation, and I can handle the game of leapfrog every offseason when free agents trade in their old uniforms for newer ones, and I've even come to grips with the regular roster purges teams like the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Nuggets have to go through every few years because they signed too many overrated players to too many outrageous contracts.
But I still don't like being lied to, and that's exactly what Jim Thome did to Cleveland fans.
When Mark Shapiro, the team's general manager, began to gut his roster last season by trading ace Bartolo Colon to the Montreal Expos for some top minor league talent, baseball people began placing bull's eyes on every veteran in the Cleveland dugout, claiming that Chuck Finley, Paul Shuey, Ellis Burks, Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel would be the next to go. In the end, Finley and Shuey would find themselves in the National League but Burks, Thome and Vizquel finished out the season in northeast Ohio. That may not have been what Shapiro and owner Larry Dolan wanted, though.
Rumors began to circulate last season that several contenders had contacted the Tribe, hoping to acquire Thome for some additional minor league prospects. But when asked if he'd waive his no-trade clause by members of the press, Thome once again declared his love and loyalty for Cleveland and the fans who'd supported him for nearly a decade by dropping one rousing quote after another:
"I don't want to be traded. I want to stay here and go home to Aurora (Ohio) every day."
"I take a lot of pride wearing this uniform. I don't want to jump ship right in the middle."
"I don't want to leave. I want to stay here as long as I can. I love Cleveland. I love the fans. It would be very hard for me to go somewhere else and wear another uniform."
And we ate it up. Jim Thome was our guy and he knew it. As long as he kept walking that loyalty line, we believed him. Why wouldn't we? Throughout his career he always was the perfect fit because he loved the city and respected the fans, plus he seemed to genuinely enjoy being a Cleveland Indian.
So when those rumors of a possible Thome trade first arose, Shapiro took even more heat from fans who claimed he was the one lacking loyalty. It didn't matter that Dolan, Shapiro's boss, told him that he had to cut payroll and, when forced under this much tighter budget, he simply had to get rid of some high-end contracts. John Hart was gone and this "new guy" didn't seem to care much for the team he'd inherited, and therefore the blame for the salary dump was placed squarely on his shoulders.
Turns out, Shapiro wasn't the disloyal one.
If Thome cared for the Indians and Cleveland fans as deeply as he said -- and still says -- he did, then couldn't he have allowed the team to trade him away last season and, in the process, receive some young talent in return? He says he never imagined he'd leave this winter, but the fact that he actually signed with someone else suggests that, deep down, he knew there was a chance that this day would come. I mean, he obviously saw the downward slope his "beloved" franchise was starting to follow, so would it have been unreasonable to think that some hopeful contender, finding itself in need of a slugging first baseman, would be able to offer one of the best slugging first basemen in the game more money and/or more years than the rebuilding Indians?
Obviously not.
If he honestly felt there was no way he was going to leave then fine, don't waive the no-trade clause and work out a deal. Instead, Jim Thome decided that maybe it's time to move on after all, only it's too late for us. Now, not only do we have no franchise player, but we have nothing to show for his loss except some bitter feelings and a giant hole in the middle of the lineup.
Thanks a bunch, Jimmy.
But that's not the only thing that upsets me about this whole mess. I've always wondered how A-Rod expects the Rangers to build a competitive team around him when he's making $25 million a year -- how can Texas play the free agent market when they've got so much cash invested in one player? Thome says he wanted a guaranteed sixth year added on to his offer from the Indians, that in the end money was not the lone deciding factor. But if Shapiro conceded that sixth year, doesn't Thome realize that somewhere along the way he'd suddenly be a burden on his team's chances to win?
Paying a 32-year-old first baseman who's good for 40 homers and a .290 average $12 million a year is reasonable, relatively speaking. But paying a 38-year-old first baseman who, by that time, would most likely be hitting about .260 with 25 homers as a full-time DH isn't exactly an intelligent business move.
Because, let's not forget, we're not talking about baseball here. We're talking about a gajillion-dollar industry.
The fact that Thome insisted on that sixth year says that he knows he won't be worth $12 million annually when he's 38, but he wanted the Indians to show that kind of commitment. Why? So they can prove to you how much you're wanted by handcuffing the entire franchise to what will wind up being an overpriced and, most important, unmovable contract?
Thome said that he was an Indians fan as much as he was a player, and as a fan he should've realized that this team, with the direction that Dolan is currently taking it, just could not afford to lock up that kind of guaranteed money into an aging first baseman with a back problem.
Here's an idea: sign for five years and then, when that expires, evaluate how well you're playing and sign another deal that's more appropriate for a 38 year old on the verge of retirement.
It's a shame that I have to write this column and it's a shame that, after everything Jim Thome meant to Cleveland fans for so many years, he'll forever be remembered as greedy and unfaithful. But in the long run, the Indians will be better off, much like they're better off without $18 million going into the pockets of Manny Ramirez every season. In four or five years, take a look at Thome's numbers; I'm willing to bet the Phillies will be trying unsuccessfully to unload his obscene contract long before it expires.
It definitely hurts to see a player you've respected for so many years leave town but it's a feeling sports fans across the country have slowly grown accustomed to. Giambi did it to Oakland, A-Rod did it to Seattle, 49ers fans watched Joe Montana head for Kansas City after so many phenomenal seasons in San Francisco. Thome wasn't the first and he certainly won't be the last.
But the way I figure, if I can get used to Jerry Rice in silver and black and Michael Jordan in a Wizards jersey, I'll figure out a way to deal with Jim Thome wearing a Phillies uniform.
In the Bullz-Eye
The Atlanta Hawks. After promising to refund a portion of the money spent by season-ticket holders if they didn't make the playoffs this season, the Hawks find themselves at 8-10. Sure, it's early but after making such a bold statement you'd like to start off with some early success, especially considering Atlanta's rather "shaky" postseason history.
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