Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Yankees I Hate #24: Marcus Thames


A seemingly-recent prospect who is somehow already 33 years old, Thames famously hit a home run, off future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, on the first pitch of his first major league at bat. He has of course never lived up to that potential, routinely letting pitches go by without hitting them for home runs off future Hall of Famers. (Zing.) But speaking more broadly, it's pretty safe to say that Thames, who broke in with the Yankees and has since played most of his career in backup roles for the Tigers, never realized his promise as a hitter. He's had a couple of years with 20+ homers but is otherwise a prototypical bench player: solid defense, a little speed, situational power. I wouldn't write home about him if he came to the Red Sox; but I could see myself texting someone.

Reasons to like him:
His last name is pronounced something like "Tims," unlike the London river of same spelling, which is more like "Tems." Noted WFAN sports radio caller Jerome from Manhattan somewhat memorably pronounced the name "Thaymes," during one of his amusingly infantile rants. Tough to assign points for why this is enjoyable, but I've always liked it. Thames is toolsy without ever getting in anyone's way, and according to Wikipedia his nickname is Slick. All good stuff in my book.

He is much inspired by his mother, who was paralyzed in a car accident in 1982.

Reasons to hate him:
Hit a monster home run off Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2008. I'm too busy to go around hating everyone who's done something good against Dice-K, though.

Overall hate rating:
None, really. Carries himself well, plays baseball, seems to be an upstanding guy. One of the few guys I could see being traded from New York to Boston without anyone feeling weird about it. Score: 1 out of 10.

1 comment:

  1. You leave Jerome from Manhattan (ne the Bronx) alone. What he lacks in intelligence and coherence, he more than makes up for with passion and volume.

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