Frank Thomas takes his power back to Oakland

CHICAGO - Long before the New York Yankees gave Jason Giambi a $120-million contract, he was the Oakland Athletics' most popular player. General manager Billy Beane let Giambi walk over his insistence to get a no-trade clause in his contract.

As hard as that decision was for Oakland, it was the right one.

The contractual hard line is also evident in the Athletics' handling of Frank Thomas. He returned to Oakland on Thursday with the A's in the enviable position of having to pay him only a pro-rated portion of the major-league minimum. The Toronto Blue Jays are picking up the rest of his $8-million salary after they stunningly released him last Sunday.

Like Giambi, Thomas had been a popular player in Oakland. He signed a bargain-basement deal there in 2006 after the White Sox cut him loose, then joined the MVP discussion with 39 homers and 114 RBI as he led the A's to an unlikely playoff spot.

Beane wanted to keep Thomas but wouldn't alter club policy to give him the bulk of his 2007 salary up front in a signing bonus. The Blue Jays did that, agreeing to a $9-million bonus as part of a two-year, $18 million deal that carried a vesting option for 2009.

Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi coveted Thomas as part of a planned attempt to crash the elite tier of the American League East. Thomas delivered in 2007, hitting .277 with 26 homers and 95 RBI. He was off to a bad start this season and had complained about being benched, going as far as accusing Ricciardi of trying to keep him from getting the 376 plate appearances he needed to kick in the $10-million option for `09.

Yet it was little less than stupid for Ricciardi to kick him to the curb in favor of a platoon of Matt Stairs and Rod Barajas at designated hitter. Ricciardi said quick action was called for, as he didn't want his team falling too far behind Boston, but the Blue Jays dropped their first four games after releasing Thomas, scoring only 11 runs.

Oakland had nothing to lose by picking up Thomas. The A's figured to have written off this season when they traded Dan Haren, Mark Kotsay and Nick Swisher to get the payroll down to $48 million, but they started 14-9. Pitching injuries threaten the anticipated dominance of the Angels and Mariners, creating a chance for a huge Oakland surprise.

Thomas could be a part of that surprise. He's not what he once was, but he still is going to win some games with his bat. The Blue Jays may wind up wishing he was doing that for them.

The volume approach

You almost can date yourself by how big you think a pitching staff should be. For decades, the question managers faced was do you want a 10th pitcher or can you go with nine? Then it became 10 or 11, and eventually 11 became standard. In recent years more than half of the teams have started carrying 12 pitchers.