Thome Rumors Say A Lot about Phillies
I’ve heard a couple variations on the story of Jim Thome possibly coming back to Philadelphia, and I have to admit I’m more interested in the potential backroom dealings that are reportedly going on. It’s not that I don’t think adding Thome as a bat off the bench would be a great move, because it obviously would be a nice piece to have in the playoffs. But the reported reaction from other teams to the possible move says a lot about how far the Phillies have come as an organization and team.
I first heard Mike Missanelli talk about the possibility of Thome returning yesterday afternoon. Essentially, he suggested Thome had been put on trade waivers by the Minnesota Twins. But since Thome has a no-trade clause in his contract, he could only realistically be traded to the Phillies. Thome is known to be extremely fond of Phils manager Charlie Manuel, apparently wants to end his career in Philadelphia. He even praised Manuel, who coached the slugger early in his career, after recently hitting his 600th career homer.
Missanelli suggested other teams would be outraged if Thome found his way to Philadelphia, but as I understood what he was saying there would be nothing fishy about it. The sports talk show host said rival general managers would be pounding on commissioner Bud Selig’s door to find a way to stop this from happening even though it was a perfectly legitimate move.
Interestingly, this morning ESPN’s Buster Olney suggested that the same thing could happen but that it wasn’t necessarily above board. It wasn’t really clear as to why, but at one point he actually suggested that other teams were just sick of “the Phillies thing.” (For the record, Olney is reporting that the Chicago White Sox will take Thome off waivers.)
Either way, I love it. Finally, a Philadelphia team is becoming one of those squads everybody else hates. That only happens when you’re consistently winning and seemingly always getting the “hot” players everybody covets. They need another World Series ring to solidify the current team as, let’s call it, a “burgeoning dynasty,” but the ride is already one of the best from one team in Philadelphia sports history at least in my lifetime.
I first heard Mike Missanelli talk about the possibility of Thome returning yesterday afternoon. Essentially, he suggested Thome had been put on trade waivers by the Minnesota Twins. But since Thome has a no-trade clause in his contract, he could only realistically be traded to the Phillies. Thome is known to be extremely fond of Phils manager Charlie Manuel, apparently wants to end his career in Philadelphia. He even praised Manuel, who coached the slugger early in his career, after recently hitting his 600th career homer.
Missanelli suggested other teams would be outraged if Thome found his way to Philadelphia, but as I understood what he was saying there would be nothing fishy about it. The sports talk show host said rival general managers would be pounding on commissioner Bud Selig’s door to find a way to stop this from happening even though it was a perfectly legitimate move.
Interestingly, this morning ESPN’s Buster Olney suggested that the same thing could happen but that it wasn’t necessarily above board. It wasn’t really clear as to why, but at one point he actually suggested that other teams were just sick of “the Phillies thing.” (For the record, Olney is reporting that the Chicago White Sox will take Thome off waivers.)
Either way, I love it. Finally, a Philadelphia team is becoming one of those squads everybody else hates. That only happens when you’re consistently winning and seemingly always getting the “hot” players everybody covets. They need another World Series ring to solidify the current team as, let’s call it, a “burgeoning dynasty,” but the ride is already one of the best from one team in Philadelphia sports history at least in my lifetime.
Comments