Sticking Points 2034.6: Pikemen Say Goodbye to FTIII

[aaronweiner]

The worst part of the last season in a Pikemen uniform for Frank Thomas III won't be the fact that next year, he'll probably be playing for someone else. The worst part is that Frank can still play. No, he doesn't still have his legendary bat speed, but most teams would take a guy like him in a heartbeat. But Little Hurt came in last year for the Pikemen in a trade and put a big hurt on the franchise, finishing below replacement level in 76 games with the team and effectively closing the book on their playoff chances.

"I understand why they didn't want me back," said Thomas. "That doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt on the inside. But baseball is a business, and that team's a contender, and I can't believe how badly I played for them last year. All of this is pretty painful stuff."

The team was never going to pay FTIII $15 million a season, but when the opportunity arose to get one of the most consistent hitters in the league in Dusty Rhodes, the team felt they couldn't commit $10 million to Rhodes and another $6-8 million to Thomas for the same position. His absurd .222 batting average and .624 OPS for Rockville provides the only blemish on a otherwise stellar Hall of Fame career with the franchise.

"You know how hard that was choosing someone over Frank, knowing he's still got tons of talent?" asked GM Aaron Weiner. "I had to talk to him first, just to tell him, and I'll be honest, I thought one or both of us was going to cry."

Thomas has yet gone unsigned this offseason, and the face of the franchise is open to a return to Rockville if the team needs him this season, but for now he's gone back to his winter home in the Outer Banks and is enjoying the time off with his kids in his private gym there.

"It's not like I'm heartbroken, but I know that if I could have come in there and played good ball I could have made a huge difference for the franchise," said Thomas. "I know I let them down and I'm sick about it, but I've given this group the best years of my life and I'm still going back there when it's finally time to hang up the spikes."