To pretty much no one’s surprise, Dong-po Thum opted into the deal that will pay him $31M this coming season. That’s a lot of salami. And that’s before adding in the $3M he’ll get simply for walking to the plate at least 50 times, and the nearly $1M more he can get for various awards and All-Star bonuses. Add it up, and you can guess that Thum is a pretty happy guy.
And the fact is that the deal is perhaps the rare Mega-contract where the player and the team are happy to have. Thum has posted 9.1 and 8.6 WAR the past two years, and if he manages that kind of production again, he’ll be paid about $3.4M/WAR, which is just a tad higher than the general rule of … um … thumb.
There are concerns, of course.
I mean, when you’re dealing with this kind of cash, you have to see concerns. Ultimately it’s a deal that cost the Nine players like Robert Chenoweth and Al Colbert—or at least made them get to scurrying to replace parts of their production. If something goes haywire, it could be the major monkey wrench in the grinder, so to speak. And the Nine have some history with that, seeing Hall of Famer Lucas McNeill hit a 0 WAR turd of a year while earning $40M in total debacle that was 2037. Things happen. Thum is known for his gregariousness and his work ethic, but still fans ponder whether the money will get to him.
Will he stay focused? one fan asked.
Will the team stop yanking him around the infield?
(Note—2048 was the first year for a helluvalongtime that Thum did not win a Zimmer glove, and part of that is probably that he split time between shortstop (39 starts) and second base (109 starts)
Will they let him hit in the middle of the order? another asked, playing off the concern the Thum has often said he’d prefer to hit in the #3 hole rather than lead-off like he generally does.
Perhaps the biggest question of all is simply the date. Thum turned 31 a short while ago. While few people really worry about his aging, it’s true that he’s on the wrong side of the 30-year-old dividing line. And while the future Hall of Fame candidate has been durable throughout his career, age has a way of making flexible things become brittle. With $31M of the team’s cap money riding on his back, one has to fret at least a little.
“I feel good,” Thum said while at a recent charity event. “I’m sticking to my regimen. I hope the fans will see the real Thum again!”
Regardless, there’s no one in their right mind who would have suggested it was bedst for the team if Thum had opted out. His career .330 batting average is best in franchise history, and his .394 OBP is tied with John F. Kennedy, Jr. (who, no mater how many Q-idiots are still lining the streets in Dallas, is not coming back). Thum's career 75.1 WAR sits exactly 0.9 WAR behind the aforementioned Lucas McNeill for tops of the chart. He’s #2 to McNeill in runs scored, #2 in hits and total bases. And doubles. He’s #1 in triples and #7 in HR—29 behind team owner Bo Jordan. There is a better than average chance he’ll surpass McNeill in career SB, too, which would put him at #1 in franchise history.
(A nihilistic cynic would pause here to say he’s tied with McNeill for career Brewster Championships, too, but that’s going too deep for this kind of thing).
The bottom line is that, sure, there are reasonable questions and reasonable concerns about Dong-po Thum. But, really, it’s December and the word is a fresh sheet of paper. Enjoy the idea of seeing Dong-po Thum play here as long as you can.