The Big Hurt

Last night, I went to a Toronto Blue Jays game. My co-worker and I, along with two of his friends, decided to tie one on and start chirping the Washington Nationals. It was a great time as we were creatively trying to come up with insults that wouldn't get us kicked out of the game. Words, such as "fuck" and "gay" will get you kicked out of your seats pretty quickly I am told. I tended to emphasize the promiscuity of their right-fielder's sister.

The Nationals are the worst team in the league and they Jays happend to win; but, the Jays have lost quite a few games this year. Obviously, the guys that I was with decided to put their two cents in. Every guy in the world will always want to try and fix something even if its not broke. In this case, the topic was the Jays and what we would do to help make this team better.

Frank Thomas, aka "The Big Hurt", was one player we thought the Jays definetely didn't need. The guy's batting average is in a piss-poor range of about .220. Granted, his on-base-percentage is in a respectable range as he draws a lot of walks. The reason why we would get him off the team is the fact that his salary is in the $10 million range. This money could be spent a lot better in many other areas of the team.

The Big Hurt is the Jays' designated hitter. His job is to swing the bat. He doesn't have to play any defence whatsoever. You would think that this guy would be able to hit the damn ball into the field every once and awhile. $10 million is a lot of money for a guy just playing half of a game (offence).

The Jays, like many other teams, need pitching. They could have used the money they would have spent on Thomas on trying to get some quality pitchers in the rotation. Even if there aren't many pitchers available on the free-agent market this year, take the money and save it for next year. The Jays surely have some young and upcoming talent that could play and get major league experience in that roster spot. Thomas is holding the team back.

The counter argument would be that $10 million wouldn't buy you a solid rotation. Truth be told, it wouldn't. However, it may be the difference between signing say Tomo Ohka and a quality pitcher. If you can throw a guy a couple of extra million on top of what you pay Ohka, one, you wouldn't have Tomo Ohka, and two, you might have a quality pitcher. I'm not talking Roy Halladay (Cy Young caliber) here. I just think the Jays need a guy that can win 50% of his games. With guys like Halladay already in the rotation, this difference may make this team a playoff team. It would be nice to see a playoff game in Canada again. '92 and '93 had some great memories. At this rate though, it may be awhile before that happens again.