Time To Go

The Big Hurt is pissed after being benched by Blue Jay manager John Gibbons. Frank Thomas hasn't been hitting well in the last couple of weeks. Known for the home run blast, he hasn't hit one of those since April 8, and he's got a meager .167 batting average. Thomas will be replaced by Matt Stairs, a Canadian crowd pleaser and currently batting .308 with one homer.

Thomas says he was benched because the Jays don't want his contract option to kick in, which is dependent on his number of plate appearances. Gibbons says it's because Thomas isn't hitting.

Whatever the case, it's time for the Jays to ship Frank out. I wouldn't have said that so soon, until I saw that he didn't shake hands with the team after they won today's game.

If a guy decides to take his lumps that way, you have to move him. He'll poison the locker room and kill a decent start to the season. How they'll move him is anyone's guess. The trouble with a DH is he's only attractive to other teams if he's hitting, but if he's hitting, then he wouldn't be benched or traded in the first place.

Gibbons has a history of run-ins with players, and Thomas has a history of talking smack about management, especially during his White Sox stint. The two of them together are going to be trouble.

However the Jays decide to do it, if they're not going to play Thomas, they have to move on without him.

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