Jim Thome Re-Signs With Twins On One-Year Contract
Thome will receive a base salary of $3 million, with additional incentives based on plate appearances. It’s therefore a bigger contract than the $1.5 million deal he signed with Minnesota a year ago, which also came with incentives based on playing time. And it’s hard to say he didn’t earn it.
The 40-year-old Thome was one of the league's most dominant hitters last season when he got in the lineup, slugging 25 home runs and posting a 1.039 OPS over 340 trips to the plate. The Twins won't expect him to be quite so good going forward, but he remains a big power threat who conquered the daunting Target Field. He'll slide right back into the middle of a lineup that already features Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.
Thome was also being pursued by the Rangers up until signing. Now that this domino has fallen, we could shortly see action on the Vladimir Guerrero, Johnny Damon, and Manny Ramirez fronts as well. For more, check out Twinkie Town.
