a point to ponder. lets say Sheffield finally “heats up.” will it be vintage Sheffield? no. Is an aged Sheffield any better than a Marcus Thames who is given the chance to play everyday? I don’t know…but it would be close. Bringing Sheffield here causes a DH problem after this year. You have two guys, Sheff and Magglio, who are both headed for the DH spot. What are going to do? Magglio cannot patrol the outfield after this year. he is brutal defensively. Where is he going to play? We are going to have to eat one of those gigantic contracts soon.

Gary Sheffield is a Hall of Famer hitter and Marcus Thames has all of three good months in the majors (May and June of 2006 and July of 2004). I know you have a man crush on Thames too, but the guy hit .199/.278/.432 after the break last year. I like Thames too, but I’ll take an aged Sheffield.

Tony Gwynn is a Hall of Fame hitter as well. Go sign him to a massive contract then! You love to use that “Man Crush” term. Thames has crushed the ball for his entire Minor League career. he has never been given a full season in the majors to show what he is capable of. Why is that? guys like Inge have offensively sucked their entire careers, but after a flash off offense, are given a lifetime membership into the “everyday players club.” Thames can flat out hit. if he played every day, the worst he would be is the exact same as Craig Monroe. How many homers do you think Thames would have had last year if given a full season of at bats? He would have hit close to 40.

Uh, I’ve used the man crush term twice.

As far as the what ifs, you don’t know that about Thames. And a lot of players hit well in the minors and then struggle. All I’m saying is, Jim Leyland is on the field every day with these guys. So what is it that you know, that he doesn’t that would make me want to pus for Thames over whoever, be it Gary Sheffield (future of Hall of Famer) or someone like Craig Monroe. You want to put Thames in the Hall of Fame, and he hasn’t done squat. YOU think he’d be better then Monroe. You think this, you think that, yet you’re dealing with a set of facts that’s incredibly lacking. You don’t see them practice, you just see them when they go up to the plate or when they’re in the field.

And for all I know, he might not have hit 30 if given a full year. He had a bad second half. That’s three months. And who’s to say he wouldn’t have stunk coming out of camp had he gotten the starting job and rode that into a horrible May and June.

All you’re doing is guessing based on who you like. And you try to make it sound like a fact, when it’s not.

I never said that I think Thames is a proven hitter. He has never been given the chance. You are assuming that he would have had a terrible second half last year to justify your point. if he had a mediocre second half he would have more than likely hit 35 homers. If he had a fantastic second half he might have hit 45…might have.Monroe had a full season of at bats and finished with i think 28…right? so we know what Monroe would have done given a full season of at bats because he was given a full season of at bats. Thames finished 1 homer behind him.

Personally I think Sheffield should be able to still produce. Its odd, given his HOF track record, that he is tanking it. I pray that he turns it around. But its not certain. I have more of a problem with them resigning Casey, who is so obviously finished at the plate. He is obviously in there strictly for his defense. Defense at first is overrated. Your first baseman needs to hit and hit for power. Because he is in there, every time he scoops a ball, i am to assume that Thames would not have scooped it…right? Thats all we really talking about when we talk about defense at first. that and being able to knock down a ground ball. look, i share the same love for the Tigers that you do. i have a different opinion on the way things are going. I want more than anything to be wrong. But….I have a serious problem when a bench guy hits 27 homers. he shouldn’t be a bench guy.

See Michael, and that’s where you make your mistake. You say “Marucs Thames whould have hit 40 homeruns” like it’s some kind of fact. It isn’t. I don’t know, you don’t know.

But that’s fine, while you were getting all bent out of shape about the “bad” moves the Tigers made last year, I was having a blast watching the Tigers make it to the World Series. Just like I’m having fun now watching the Tigers win. They’re 9-6, and I would have taken that had you asked me at the beginning of the year.

See Brian, and that’s where you make your mistake. I never said that in my above post. what I said was
“if he had a mediocre second half he would have more than likely hit 35 homers. If he had a fantastic second half he might have hit 45…”

I used words like “might have hit” and “more than likely hit”.

That time you did, but in an earlier comment you didn’t. That’s fine. And yes, i can live with 35 homeruns had he played the entire season. But you start losing me when you starting sounding so certain when you really don’t know.

Thats my point. i don’t know…but going by him numbers, he should be given a shot so we then know. His homer total last year in that amount of at bats is a red flag to me that this guy is a power hitter. Why not give him a season and find out? Thats all i meant.

Sorry for the grammatical butchering.

That’s all you and I have ever said about Thames, and it is somehow a “man crush”. We know what Monroe is. He’s not going to get any better than what he already is. Thames seemed to have turned a corner about two or three years ago, and he’s been jerked around ever since.

It’s not the grammar because I know I make my share of mistakes. It’s the arrogance. You think you have the answers from your arm chair, when you really don’t.

I like Thames more than I do Monroe and I think Thames should play everyday.Sheffield is the “Most Feared A.L. Hitter.”But now what happened?He is batting .132,I pretty much thought he would do more.Maybe he will catch on fire later.Who knows.