Twins sign Jim Thome to one-year deal
Posted on January 26, 2010
Jim Thome of the Cleveland Indians bats during a game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington in 2001. (Photo by Brad Mangin)
The Minnesota Twins have signed free agent slugger Jim Thome to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million this afternoon. Thome, 39, has hit 564 career home runs in 19 big league seasons. They already have Jason Kubel as a left-handed hitting DH, so Thome will more than likely come off the bench to help out the ballclub in 2010.
Jim Thome of the Philadelphia Phillies gets ready in the dugout before a game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum on Oakland, CA on June 18, 2005. (Photo by Brad Mangin)
Thome played for the White Sox and Dodgers in 2009, batting a combined .249 with 23 homers and 77 RBIs, most of them with the Pale Hose. Thome has 564 homers and might try and hang around long enough to pass the 600 mark, which would cement him as a Hall of Famer unless he is unveiled as a steroid guy in the future.
Jim Thome of the Los Angeles Dodgers gets ready to bat in the dugout during the game against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on September 13, 2009 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)
Thome was a vital part of the great offensive clubs in Cleveland in the 1990’s when their great lineup consisted of sluggers like Albert Bell and Manny Ramirez joining Thome in a potent lineup that made it to two World Series. Unfortunately they ran into the Braves in 1995 and Marlins in 1997, failing to win both times.
Twins sign Jim Thome – Images by Brad Mangin
Thome has always been fun to photography with his powerful swing from the left side of the plate to his great smile in thew dugout. Now that he is with the Twins he will get to help them break in their new outdoor ballpark in Minneapolis in April. I know my good friend Ron Vesely will be taking a trip to Target Field for the chance to shoot the Twins outdoors in their home whites for the first time in many years after playing in an awful domed stadium for a generation. Vesely will undoubtedly stop by the Twins dugout to say hello to Thome, who was always one of Ves’s favorites to shoot in Chicago where Vesely is the White Sox team photographer.
I think Thome is pretty much done. I don’t see him getting many at bats with the Twins. He is a great clubhouse guy and will help them off the field, but don’t look for much production from him.
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