Free agent outielder Eric Thames has drawn interest from the Padres, Rays and Athletics (as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle previously reported), according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. Thames, who has starred in Korea since 2014, previously saw major league action with the Blue Jays and Mariners from 2011-12.
Thames, 30, was so-so in his two-year major league stint, hitting .250/.296/.431 with 21 home runs in 684 plate appearances, but he could cash in this winter thanks to his phenomenal showing with the NC Dinos of the hitter-friendly KBO. Thames swatted at least 37 homers in each of the previous three seasons, including 47 in an MVP-winning 2015, giving him a combined 124 since he immigrated to Korea. All told, he has slashed a videogamelike .348/.450/.720 in 1,634 plate appearances and also added 64 stolen bases on 78 attempts since leaving America.
Assuming he returns to the States, MLBTR projects a two-year, $10MM deal for Thames (from the Rays, in fact), but one National League executive told Crasnick he could fare even better than that.
“Look at some of the money that Cuban players have gotten,” said the exec. “What’s the difference here? I think somebody is going to bite, and he’ll get a contract for two years and $12 million, or three years and $15-18 million.”
Thames, a California native, acknowledged that he has contemplated another major league go-around.
“Yes, the thought has crossed my mind a few times,” Thames told Crasnick via email. “I’m wondering about how my new mindset could transfer over. Next year feels like light years away! Who knows where I will end up.”
Re-signing in Korea or heading to Japan are also possibilities for Thames, who might not exclusively play the outfield in a second major league stint. Thames moved to first in Korea, notes Crasnick, and the lefty-swinger would likely spend time there, in the outfield and, if he signs with an American League team, at designated hitter. With Wil Myers at first and no DH, the Padres would have to to utilize Thames in the outfield, while the hitter-needy Rays and A’s would have more flexibility in deploying him.
Why are the padres interested? Margot in triple A- dickerson renfoe jankowski in the OF. Thames would be a 4th OF bench guy. Maybe he platoons with renfoe against righties?
Or plays 1B if they do indeed flip Myers.
I agree though, very odd idea if you take SD’d roster as-is. Now, trading Jankowski and/or Dickerson might get Thames to fit, but still, that’s ridiculous to project.
I wonder how srrious they are at trading myers. Theyd sell high on him and would most likely get talent that needs 2 years to develop or comes with a lot of team control. In that case I can see them giving thames a 2 year deal till 2019 season and then moving dickerson to 1st and keeping dickerson jankowski renfoe and margot. With jankowski and margot that would be one good defense in the OF.
Hard to say they would “sell high” when he’s a 25yo with high potential and some question marks. He could become a perennial all-star or he could be an injury riddled bust. I hope they extend him and he’s a piece they build around.
If Dickerson gets traded, there’s a clear spot for a player like Thames. A lefty thumper to sub in for Jankowski (or Jay?) and can potentially learn 1B enough to back Myers up there, too. But you’d be signing a FA to take the spot of a young, controllable player. If Dickerson can net some young minor league talent, there’s the payroll flexibility to carry a player like Thames for a couple of years…. but I think I’d still rather have Dickerson if that’s the option.
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks of the NPB are currently negotiating a deal with Eric Thames, via link (m.sports.naver.com/kbaseball/news/read.nhn?oid=005…).
Padres would use him off the bench. With the OF options like Jankowski, Margot, Renfroe, hell even Dickerson he’s not starting much at all barring injury. The interesting idea is to give him big 1 year deal so you can hold back a bit of service time on Margot in particular.
That’s what I’m thinking. They would use him off the bench as a 4th outfielder to help delay service time for guys like Margot and Renfroe. Maybe if he plays decently, they can flip him at the deadline for something.
Really see no reason to spend what Thames will command for a 4th OF on a 4th place team still at least 2 years away from contending.
This reeks of AJ kicking the tires only to pass.
And NO……Myers will not be traded.
The difference is that he’s played in the MLB unlike a lot of other foreign players, and he hasn’t shown much. So teams interested in him are gonna have to gamble if they want him.
Well, that was several years ago and he was playing at an age when many players are still in the minors. Players do get better, it’s not like everyone is a finished product at 25.
It’s a shame Wladimir Balentien never got a real chance in MLB, he’s done well in Japan.
No idea why he hasn’t even tried to come home yet. He’s better than quite a few MLB regulars.
…because he’s not. He’s better than most NPB regulars, but he’d hardly crack a roster over here. There’s a reason why struggling vets wind up over there, and only Japanese superstars see much success over here. It’s a little better than AAA competition.
Rays should take him
He’s a Bay Area native, Beane should have him signed already! It’s such a no-brainer, being that Oakland has positional depth everywhere except OF. Give him 3 years and 21 mill, even if he stinks that’s a fine contract risk for a 4th OF.
@Just Another Fan – What do you think about SF signing him? They need OF depth.
I think from Thames’ perspective Oakland is probably going to non-tender Alonso, so he’d have more options to play everyday in LF or 1B – SF has Belt at 1B, so less options.
I also think SF wouldn’t offer him an everyday job to start the season, whereas Oakland would. I’m not saying there’s no match in SF, but he might not be looking to be a role player right now, he’s a legit superstar in Korea, it probably wouldn’t even be worthwhile to come back to MLB if he wasn’t going to play everyday.
Yeah that’s a good point.
Plus I wonder how much money he makes on the side in Korea with endorsement deals etc.
Not in Oakland….$7 mil a year to a non-starter wud hurt…let’s give him 3 yrs 12 mil with 10 mil in incentives…(ok maybe he wudnt accept that…but a contract like that)
And then use the rest of our cash to play with the big payroll teams for the top outfield FA guys.
The A’s just paid $11M a year to a non-starter in Butler, they gave Nakajima $6M to never suit up in the bigs for them, and also has MLB breathing down it’s neck about not spending their revenue sharing – it would be wise to give up on the “A’s never spend money/are cheapskates” narrative right now.
There is no guarantee that he will hit in the bigs the second time around. i would not go over a 2 year deal. I would prefer a 1 year deal ($8 million) with a option on a second by plate appearances.
That sounds reasonable, however, Thames is in the process of getting offers by KBO teams, so you would assume any MLB deal he’d get would have to have some items like “must play everyday for 3 months” and also come close to money/years.
“There is no guarantee that he will hit in the bigs the second time around”
There’s no guarantee anyone will hit in the bigs ever. If Kang can do it, he certainly can. It’s all about the player who can make adjustments, and Thames has adjusted every single facet of his game in Korea, even by learning the language. That’s an extremely important point, what did Yogi say again about how much of the game is mental?
I saw a highlight reel on this guy once and he looked pretty good.
All I know about the KBO is that it’s “hitter friendly”, and looking up Korean players in MLB and comparing their stats between the leagues, it seems many have done pretty good in the Majors, not as good as KBO but still reasonable numbers.
Someone should give Thames a shot.
I agree, I keep seeing all this talk about how hitter friendly the KBO is, but then I look at Jung Ho Kang’s MLB stats and think “Those are really good numbers”. So while it might be over the top, the downslide to MLB still puts those players in star-level territory.
That’s a funny joke. No way Thames gets that kind of money. Matt Joyce, a pretty excellent hitter as far as 4th outfielders go, signed for 1 million last year with the Pirates. A lot of fring MLB players could succeed overseas. You’re looking at maybe a 1 year, 2 million contract. At most, two years 5ish million.
A lot of fringe MLB players fail overseas – do some research.
Thames is a superstar in the KBO, you really need to watch some videos on how he’s turned his game around at every possible angle. He really put in work and the numbers reflect that. I totally believe he is going to be a decent regular in MLB in 2017, and if 3/21 is what it takes to get him back stateside, I’d do it.
He really is an exciting player to watch. On top of that he plays the game like a kid, he’s having a blast out there. He just plays with a huge smile on his face without being over the top and disrespectful and I always enjoy it when players look happy when they do something good rather than look like they are smelling a fart in an elevator.
Emigrated to, immigrated from.
I’m currently in Korea and I can tell you first hand that Eric is an absolute monster. Yeah hitter friendly parks here, but he crushes them out of stadiums. So fun watching him play. He’s like the Barry Bonds of Korea. I have had the chance to talk to him and he’s a really cool down to earth guy who just loves baseball and has put in the work to get back to the MLB. He made 1.2Mil last season and took his team (Dinos) to the championship series. Unfortunate for me he’ll probably go back to the MLB, (if he does hoping he will replace Belt on the Giants-I’m a SF fan lol). At least I can say that I saw him make it (again) and also caught one of his home runs.
@steveg – Thanks for the information. I really hope he comes back to the states and I too hope he plays for SF but worried they might not offer him enough playing time like @just another fan said.
Yeah man he can’t be benched. He’ll be better off playing for the A’s.
The Padres shouldn’t deal anyone to make room for Thames in case he sucks like he did before.
The Padres wouldn’t deal someone to make room for Thames- the Padres would deal someone from their depth, like OF, to fill another need and sign Thames to replace the spot lost. Say they deal Dickerson for a 4th starter type then Thames would replace Dickerson in the OF and keep Margot in AAA for more seasoning.
You’re right, they shouldn’t but given the way AJ has been screwing things up, I wouldn’t put it past him !
I think saying he sucked is a little bit of a stretch. He crushed in the minors with a .900 OPS over 4 seasons. Then had less than 700 PA over two seasons at age 24-25 where he showed decent power and was just about a league average bat.
Doubt he will go to the Padres or any teams looking for outfielders. He’s played 1st/DH for the past 3 years with zero time in the outfield.
I think he would be a good replacement in Detroit for JD Martinez, once he is traded. He would provide a Lefty bat to help balance the lineup. I just don’t see Collins or Moya being the answer. Collins might be half of a platoon, but I’d prefer him as a 4th OF..