ShareThisBefore signing with the Minnesota Twins last winter, Jim Thome considered returning to the White Sox, but Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen didn't want him back.
It's not that Guillen didn't like Thome -- "I love Jim Thome," Guillen says, repeatedly -- but he wanted a more versatile roster. He hoped to spread around designated hitter opportunities, so Paul Konerko, Carlos Quentin and others could get chances to hit without playing defense.
In some ways, it has worked. Konerko and Quentin, who have combined for 38 DH assignments, have been far more productive than last season.
The Twins went 8-10 in interleague play, including nine road games when Thome was reduced to a pinch-hitting role. Meanwhile, the White Sox went 15-3 in interleague play, a major reason they're within three games of the first-place Twins heading into Tuesday's showdown at Target Field.
But Chicago's biggest need has been a lefthanded-hitting slugger. They've explored deals for Adam Dunn and Prince Fielder. Hmmm. The Twins have a new player like that.
Chicago's loss has been the Twins' gain. They needed more muscle off the bench, and Thome is producing like he did in his mid-30s.
Thome, who turns 40 on Aug. 27, has hit 16 home runs, giving him 580 for his career. He has done this in 204 at-bats. That at-bats-per-home-run ratio (12.75) is Thome's best since 2007, when he hit 35 homers in 432 at-bats for the White Sox, for a 12.34 ratio.
To hear manager Ron Gardenhire talk, it's not only Thome's home runs, it's his smile. The future Hall of Famer has blended in with the Twins' tight-knit core, taking their camaraderie to new levels, helping fill a void with Mike Redmond gone and Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan both injured.
"He fits the mold to a T," said Nick Punto, a seven-year Twin.
Thome is one of baseball's best bargains. With incentives based on plate appearances, Thome is on pace to make $1.7 million after making $13 million last year, when he hit 23 home runs for Chicago before getting traded to the Dodgers. As a bench player for the Dodgers, Thome went 5-for-20, including the postseason, without an extra-base hit.
The offseason brought few calls. The only teams reportedly interested were the Twins, Rays and Tigers.
"The White Sox never really asked me about any role that I would want to play," Thome said. "They just said they wouldn't be able to get me the at-bats, and that was it. When I talked to (Twins manager Ron Gardenhire), he said, 'Look, my guys play, and I can't promise you a number of at-bats, but you're going to play.' That was really all I needed to hear."
Thome, who hit 134 home runs in four years with the White Sox, expresses no hard feelings toward the organization.
"They had an idea what they wanted to do, and they did it," Thome said. "That was OK. This is baseball. You've got to learn to adjust to the decisions that are made."
The White Sox have given most of their DH assignments to Mark Kotsay, who is making $1.5 million this season. For $500,000, they also signed Andruw Jones, another slugger who can play the outfield. Guillen's goal was to make sure each bench player could handle at least one position. Thome had been almost exclusively a DH in his four years with the White Sox.
But from Chicago's end, the numbers aren't pretty. White Sox DHs have combined for 15 home runs and a .707 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage). Thome has one more homer by himself, in fewer than half the at-bats, and his OPS -- helped by his 42 walks and 14 doubles -- is .966.
Gardenhire said one key has been constantly checking to see how Thome feels, making sure not to risk re-injuring his back.
"I never regret anything I did with Thome," Guillen told reporters last month. "... A lot of people say, 'Well, you guys aren't going to go anywhere because you can't hit the home run.' Well, in seven years I've been managing this ballclub, we've had a lot of guys that hit home runs, and we finished third a lot of times, too."
With the Twins back in first place, conversations inevitably turn toward Thome's future. Will he retire? Will he return to the Twins next season, aiming for a 600th home run?
General Manager Bill Smith said Thome has "been everything we expected," adding that all decisions regarding potential free agents will be made in the offseason.
Thome has said he'd like to keep playing, though one wonders if that would change if the Twins won the World Series. In 20 major league seasons -- including trips to the 1995 and 1997 World Series with Cleveland -- Thome never has won it all.
Thome said he doesn't like to look too far ahead. But what if the Twins needed an answer today?
"You know what, I've enjoyed it," he said with a big smile. "We'd sit down and talk -- yes. It's been a wonderful place, and I knew that because I had played against these guys for years. But look, it's been a joy."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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