Surprisingly there is some pretty strong backlash at the White Sox, mainly Ozzie Guillen's, decision to not bring Jim Thome back to the South Side for the upcoming 2010 season. Admittedly, it is a tough situation to let Thome go, especially considering he performed very well during his White Sox stint, enjoyed his time with the Sox immensely, did numerous appearances for charity willingly, and will forever be remembered for his 7th inning home run in Game 163 in 2008 (pictured left). Thome's reputation among White Sox fans, and in all of baseball is impeccable. The only people who have problems with Thome are those silly temperamental and illogical Cleveland Indians fans that don't understand anything about the business of baseball, or understand that the Indians couldn't afford to keep Thome even if they wanted to. Then again Indians fans have been historically slow to grasp the obvious sometimes.All that aside however, this is business. The White Sox have decided to go for a more balanced, versatile, and for lack of a better term "National League style" lineup with an emphasis on speed, defense, manufacturing runs, etc, in order to restore some consistency with the offensive production. Ozzie has always preferred a lineup of this variety, and there is definitely a sense that Guillen was behind every decision the White Sox made this offseason. Andruw Jones and Omar Vizquel have 21 Gold Gloves between them. While never being accused of great defense at third base, Mark Teahen does provide a line drive hitter who will put the ball in play. Coupled with Mark Kotsay, Guillen plans to have the DH position wide open so he can specifically rotate a very deep bench, and keep these and other veterans as fresh as possible.
This leaves Jim Thome (and Jermaine Dye as well) as the square peg in the round hole. He's 39 years old, and he's not what the White Sox need, even in the role of a pinch hitter off the bench. He's clearly not the same hitter he used to be, and at some point the White Sox need to let go of the past. Let's not forget that the White Sox showed the door to their greatest player in franchise history Frank Thomas, to make room for Thome to be on the team in the first place. Let's also not forget, that the White Sox did the same thing to Ozzie Guillen that they did to Thome, when Ozzie was a player for them in 1998. It's a tough business, but it is the business of baseball, love it or hate it.
As O.W. Shaddock (John Matuszak) said in North Dallas Forty : "Every time I call it a game, you say it's a business. Every time I say it's a business, you call it a game!"
Jim Thome is a Minnesota Twin now, and The Beard is sending a big "Good Luck", and "Thanks For The Memories", to him.
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