Jim Thome was an icon in Philadelphia the 3 years he was in town, and today that icon is moving to my home town of Chicago to play for the world champion Chicago White Sox. While it is sad to see Thome leave the Phillies after what he brought to this club, the move was badly needed to give Ryan Howard the chance to play everyday and to give the Phillies the payroll flexibility needed to find more pitching.
Thome is a great player, a great clubhouse guy and an all around great guy. His time in Philadelphia was short, but his story with the Phillies meant much more to this team than the left-handed power he brought to the field each day.
Overture
Prior to 2002, the Phillies were a team in search of an identity. With Scott Rolen's ascention to an elite player, Pat Burrell's arrival on the scene, and Bobby Abreu's emergence they had a fearsome 1-2-3 punch in the middle of the order. However, Rolen became a poison pill in the clubhouse, calling out the team as not being committed to winning, and finally turning down a long-term contract, forcing the Phillies to trade him to St. Louis. Prior to Rolen's fallout, the Phillies seemed to be moving in the right direction to become a contender, perhaps just a few more pieces away from contention. Now, the Phillies were missing a force in the middle of their lineup and searching for an answer.
With a new stadium being built, the Phillies knew they would be flush with money and were finally willing to spend the amount of money needed to field a team worthy of knocking off the Atlanta Braves and making a run at the World Series. The problem was, what moves to make.
Act I
Right around Thanksgiving of 2002, the Phillies started to make some bold moves to improve the team. Jim Thome signs an $85 million deal and thus changes the attitude of a ball club that was all too accustomed to loosing over it's 120 plus year history. The signing of Thome -- the largest contract in Phillies history -- showed everyone in baseball that Philadelphia was serious about fielding a winning team.
Thome rode into town with great fan fare, like a Roman general returning from a successful campaign against the Saxsons. Thome was instantly a hit with Phillies fans before playing a single game. Thome answered the fan fare by hitting 89 HR in his first 2 seasons and averaging 118 RBI. The Phillies narrowly missed the playoffs each year, and seemed just a few spare parts away from getting over the top.
Act II
2005 started out poorly for Thome with a back injury that limited his time in the lineup and effected his hitting. The Phillies came out of the gates slowly and looked like they were going to be burried in the competitive N.L. East. The fans started to boo and some of it was directed at Jim Thome. The season wore on and the Phillies clawed their way back into the division lead and had Thome coming back from the D.L. and all seemed to be good in the world again.
However, Thome's return weighed on the team as it was clear he wasn't the powerful force that he had been in 2003-04. The boos from the fans intensified. Thome finally hit the D.L. again on July 1 with elbow tendenitis. Once Thome went down, the Phillies called up young slugger Ryan Howard. A couple weeks after Howard arrived on the scene, the Phillies seemed to have new life and new hope for the post-season. With every game Howard continued clubbing the balls out of the ballpark and Thome started slipping to the back of fans' minds.
Thome finally shut his season down in August, electing to have elbow surgery, but the fans hardly noticed, his season ended producing just .207 with 7HR and 30RBI in 193AB. But the Phillies were in the thick of a playoff race and everyone knew that Ryan Howard was the key to getting them over the top. Howard did his part by hitting 22HR and 63RBI in just over half a season, including several key blasts to win games late in the season. Unfortunately, the Phillies finished the season 2 games behind the Braves and 1 Game behind the Astros for the Wild Card.
Act III
The Phillies enter the 2005 post-season with a new general manager, a budget that isn't allowed to expand much and several key personell questions.
The key questions, in no particular order:
- Who will be next year's closer?
- Who will play center field?
- How will the pitching staff be constructed after Lieber, Myers and Lidle?
- Who will play first base?
With the trade of Thome, Pat Gillick has answered two of those questions. First base is now Ryan Howard's domain, and hopefully will be for the next 15 years and 500 Home Runs. While the Phillies probably would have been satisfied with the White Sox giving up a couple of prospects and taking on close to half of Thome's remaining contract of $46M, the White Sox came up with much more. The Phillies not only get an additional $24M to work with, they also get a Gold Glove caliber center fielder in Aaron Rowand. Rowand looks like he could be a 20HR / 20SB guy who could fill in the second spot in the order.
Even though Thome is off to the White Sox, the Phillies still have the sense that they are one of the elite teams in the N.L. and are just a couple of pieces away from beating out the Atlanta Braves.
Prior to Thome's arrival in Philadelphia, winning was a rare accomplishment for the Phillies, with Thome's departure from Philadelphia, winning is now an expectation for Phillies fans. While many factors were involved in Philadelphia's renaissance at the turn of the century, perhaps none were as important as bringing Jim Thome to town.
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