OK, so it wasn’t a midnight fly-by-night Cliff Lee signing
that shocked the sports world, but Big Rube made a good, solid deal on Friday.
As if we need to even tell you, Gentleman Jim Thome is back
in town.
Let us tell you really quickly why this is a great move…
1.
Your Opening Day Roster Needs Him.
We know you’ve tried to block it
out but let’s go back to that final out of our season where Ryan Howard
grounded out but never made it all of the way down the first base line…. Hmmm…
Why not? Oh, that’s right, he tore his Achilles tendon. From what we’ve heard
about recovering from this surgery, it’s not pleasant and it won’t be short.
The very early estimation was 6-8 months. That puts us anywhere from April to
June. Pull out your calendars because if you haven’t put two and two together
yet, the season is well in full swing at this point. Jim, at the ripe old age
of 41 yrs old, is going to need to fill in our need at first in some capacity.
Will he be our opening day first baseman? It’s unlikely, but possible
(especially with the Phillies heavily looking into Michael Cuddyer).
2.
Congratulations, You’ve Just Signed a
Player/Manager, Ruben
Ruben just made one of the deals
of his lifetime for one big reason: He basically just got a 2-for-1 deal for a
measly $1.25 million (reportedly). Even when Ryan comes back and is ready and
able to go, you’re still getting a well-seasoned and successful veteran. This vet may need to help a team that will be looking to start bringing up farm talent
to fill in spots and to ‘see what they have waiting’ for a team that is aging
(no surprise there). Anyone (not just rookies) is going to listen to Jim Thome.
How many other guys in that locker room are able to say they’ve hit 604 homers
in the MLB? My guess is none of them. Not to mention the guy that taught him
how to swing the lumber to the extent that he is was Uncle Charlie. Everything
Charlie preaches will be echoed by Jim and pounded into the heads of the guys that are in slumps or just need a little help. Not to mention that if the
Phillies can hang onto Ryne Sandberg, and he becomes the bench coach, then
you’ve got the best coaching staff in the league – without question. One of the
top three won’t even be considered a coach and can still even swing the bat and
help out in a game. Don’t underestimate this aspect.
3.
Bottom 9, 2 on, 2 outs, you need three runs
quick… Gload or Thome?
Everyone got fed up quickly this
year with Ross Gload’s lack of production. Albeit, the guy did have a bad hip
and did his fair share of work, but we never really had that guy that everyone
was confident in off of the bench. In years past, we had Dobbsy, Stairs, Valdez
or the GREAT Tomas Perez. But this year we really never had that guy that came
up in the 9th and had everyone saying, ‘Everyone chill out – he’s got this.’ Mayberry took the role early, but he wasn’t that guy. Jim could
easily become this guy that we look for a homer out of in a clutch situation.
We especially needed this in the left-handed variety.
Aside for all of these points, the
city got another great man and great ballplayer that WANTED to be back here.
This is also a man that is only surpassed in home run total by 7 other men in
the history of baseball. This should continue to add to the mystique and
legendary status of an already fun team to watch. Whether or not this is
another move to add another piece to a World Series-caliber team is something
that can only be measured 11 months from now – in October.
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