Frank Thomas Released

A day after being benched, Frank Thomas has been released by the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays have struggled a bit thus far (10-10 after today's loss to Detroit) and the Big Hurt is off to a slow start (he is hitting .167/.306/.333) with three homers to date. That being said, Thomas is a notoriously slow starter, so this may just be par for the course with him. Many think that the Jays cut him in order to avoid having to paying out his $10 million option next year and this is theoretically possible, but is such a bad PR-move that it's sort of mind-boggling if that is the only reason. Additionally, they are still on the hook for Thomas's $8 million salary for the 2008 season.

Personally, I'd be shocked if no one throws a little bit of money at the Hurt and I'd also be surprised if he doesn't hit well later on this year. Toronto General Manager J.P. Ricciardi says that Thomas has not been getting around on the fastball like he should be, but I'm not really quite so sure. Thomas famously resurrected his career with the Oakland Athletics in 2006 to the tune of being voted 4th in AL MVP voting with a .270/.381/.545 line with 39 homeruns. His 2006 salary? $500,000. Last year he batted .277/.377/.480 with 26 dingers and, although he isn't getting any younger, the two-time MVP wants to play and will get a shot somewhere.

On the Fantasy side, this is going to create some AB opportunities for Adam Lind, so you might want to snatch him up if there's a weak crop of OF in your league. The 24-year old could end up being a pretty good lefty bat in a decent lineup, hitting behind high OBP players like Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Matt Stairs and Lyle Overbay.