The God is Back

The Big Hurt is back in the building, bitch!

Yes, the God of DH’s is back in the Oakland Area. Frank Thomas, first ballot hall-of-famer, and one of the best players of my era to ever have played, just re-signed with the A’s today, and I’m happy as a clam.

Big Frank absolutely carried the offense during the A’s 2006 season, the one were they made it to the ALCS. It’s true that he’s about a year and a half older since then, and some speculate that he’s lost his swing while in Toronto. However, he’s a welcome edition to the team. He’s still got power, he still gets on base, and he’s cheap. He fits in well with the line-up, giving them the potential power right-handed hitter that they’ve always lacked, except the last time he was on the team. While Mike Sweeney still seems capable of hitting for average, his productive days for hitting jacks seem like they’re in the past. And Thomas’ presence hopefully prophesizes the end of Jack Cust’s association with the team, at least on the major league level. I’ve got no complaints here.

It caps off a weird couple of days for the days, where the team also signed Rajai Davis, who, despite going 3 for 5 today, will probably serve mostly as a pinch-runner. So we’re putting together a weird team, that despite having three DHs on the roster, also sports pinch-runners, pinch-hitters, defensive substitutions, and whatever. Hell, the A’s even stole a base and ran a hit and run last night. This season continues to be interesting.

I’m going to refrain from making wild predictions that may result from this move. This is still a team that could hit a wall in a lot of areas as the spring turns to summer. But I feel like with this $300,000 move, the A’s at least have decided that they’re not going to flee from a successful season if it comes their way.