6:43pm: Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated (via Twitter) hears that the Twins won't get in the way of a potential deal and the decision will ultimately be up to Thome.
6:16pm: No deal is completed yet and the Indians are hoping that Thome will accept a deal to Cleveland, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com.
4:56pm: A deal to bring veteran slugger Jim Thome back to the Indians is nearly complete, according to Nick Camino of WTAM 1100 (via Twitter). The Twins placed Thome on waivers on Monday afternoon and yesterday we learned that the Tribe had the winning claim.
Thome has a full no-trade clause and was said to have his eye on a return to Philadelphia, not Cleveland. The Indians could surely benefit from a reunion with Thome as designated hitter Travis Hafner is on the disabled list with a strained right foot.
Thome, who will celebrate his 41st birthday on Saturday, belted 334 of his 601 career home runs with the Indians.
Chisenhall? :-)
Chisenfail.
If Bill Smith was the Indians GM, he would make that trade in a heartbeat.
If Bill Smith was the Indians GM they wouldnt be in contention.
Chisenhall is 22 years old. Cut him some slack!
If we somehow manage to get Chisenhall I might have an orgasm right here – odds are we are getting some stiff like Luis Valbuena
no chance
Odds are the trade will be for someone NOT on the 40-man roster….since anyone on the 40-man would have to clear waivers to be traded…
I bet Smith will package Jim with Denard Span so that we can get two AAA bullpen arms.
Did Span clear waivers? I missed that one.
Just making a joke. No need to call me on facts.
Why on earth would they trade Lonnie for a 35 game rental?
Thanks for the memories, Thome. Go get a ring. Don’t screw this up, Indians.
ha, are you really saying the Indians will be screwups if they don’t win a ring this year?
Yes.
For Thome, yes. Because they stood in the way of Thome making it to a better team in waivers.
He deserves a ring and if the Indians don’t win it all then they just screwed him. There’s no guarantee for any team to win the WS, but he has a better shot with others..
He waived his no trade clause to go to the Indians, he didnt have to. They didnt “block” him from going anywhere.
True, he didn’t have to…but things didn’t get much better for him. He gets to go “home” now and play for the Indians. That’s it. He’s still not going to the playoffs. And that’s what the Indians took away from him by claiming him.
With the Twins he wasn’t going to the playoffs. With the Indians, he’s not going to the playoffs. They definitely did block him. Because the only other option was to have the Twins release him from his contract so he can sign wherever he wanted, which wasn’t going to happen. The Indians should have let him go to the Tigers or another team. All this does is create warm fuzzy feelings, it doesn’t get Thome closer to the ring he deserves a shot at.
I really don’t see the point of bringing Thome back, other than for sentimental purposes.
For DH’ing. Cant you read?
With Hafner on the DL they need some source of power, if you dont want Thome, you can get former indian Milton Bradley instead.
Funny. I wonder what Milton does now that he’s out of baseball. I’m assuming he’s saved at least some of the $35 million (thanks Mr. Hendry) he’s earned in his career.
Pretty much just to show fans they haven’t completely given up. The Indians have been god awful since their 30-15 start. I don’t see them catching the Tigers with or without him.
It would be funny if he turned down the trade due to the booooing he endured in Cleveland.
yeah, you have to wonder. Wouldnt that suck for Cleveland, to be rejected by one of their former heroes. Though suspect Thome is a bigger man than that and will welcome the chance for a reunion. All is well.
He actually got way more cheers than boos in Cleveland. Yeah first time back he got booed pretty heavily, but since it’s been mostly cheers.
Boo.
They Twins already have a 3B and Span is on DL.
There’s just too many funny things about this post to comment on.
I’d agree with you, but I really don’t know what that post means.
Got any scrappy, light-hitting middle infielders? That should do it.
or crappy relievers
u can take valbuena off our hands, ha
Will he battle his tale off for valuable things like RBIs?
Any junk ball pitcher or a player with no power should do
After they trade for him, they’ll have a three day window to sign him to a long term contract.
What now? After they trade for him he’s their player for the remainder of the year and they can take the rest of the season if they want an extension.
Or are you suggesting that the Twins are giving the Indians a negotiating window as part of trade negotiations? And if so, what is your source?
A good spy never reveals his secrets.
Indians ain’t doing jack, if they wanted to let Thome to get a ring they’d try to give him to Philly. We’ll probably get some 22 year old AA/AAA arm with a chance of the Majors if they add some speed to that 82 MPH fastball. XD
yeah…the Indians should piss everyone off and give him to the Phillies. Cause I’m sure the Braves wouldn’t claim him just to block them….nor the giants.
This isn’t the NBA
Poor Thome
He wants to decline but doesn’t want to be viewed as an asshat again
I don’t think anyone would begrudge someone with Thome’s clout and reputation as a team-first unselfish player a chance to get a ring. If he exercises his rightful option and declines the trade and then elects to forfeit his remaining salary and become a free agent to try and win a Championship with the Phillies, can anyone really fault him? Are the Indians really contenders? At some point players need to think about themselves, and I wouldn’t be upset with Thome at all if he went to a team that had a legitimate shot at winning it all.
If he declined he wasn’t going to be a free agent. He was placed on waivers not designated for assignment.