CLEVELAND: When Jim Thome left the Indians to sign with a Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent, he asked a reporter if he thought the Tribe would let him come back in a few years.
It took more than a few — nine to be precise — but Thome is returning, maybe as soon as tonight. The Indians put in a waiver claim for Thome, then made a deal with the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night to acquire him for a player to be named on or before Oct. 15.
“Jim Thome is a hall of fame-caliber player and person,” Indians General Manager Chris Antonetti in announcing the trade Thursday night.
The acquisition of Thome, who will be 41 on Saturday, makes sense in the wake of a foot injury to designated hitter Travis Hafner.
“We had some preliminary conversations with the Twins before Hafner got hurt,” Antonetti said. “Once Travis got hurt, Jim became more of a clear fit for us.”
Earlier this month, Thome became the eighth player in history to hit 600 home runs. Since then, he has hit one more. He was batting .243 with 12 homers and 40 RBI in 206 bats. More than likely, he will be the Tribe’s DH most of the time, but he has suffered various injuries in recent years and won’t be used every game.
“We will have to manage his playing time,” Antonetti said. “We will work with Jim to see what the right balance is. But he won’t play every day.”
Thome is making $3 million this year, of which about $500,000 is still to be paid out. He also had the right to refuse the deal under the terms of his contract.
“It’s important to note that Jim had a no-trade clause,” Antonetti said. “He didn’t have to come to Cleveland. He could have stayed in Minnesota. He was really excited. He was fired up to come back and join the team, and so was his family.”
Thome came up through the Indians’ farm system and played for the Tribe for 12 seasons, becoming the franchise leader in home runs with 334. After he left, he was not always treated kindly by the fans when he returned to play at Progressive Field.
“I am genuinely hopeful that Jim is greeted with a standing ovation by our fans,” Antonetti said. “That’s what he deserves. I’m confident that our fans will embrace him.”
Antonetti said the Twins “can pick from a relatively short list of players” to complete the trade.
Is Antonetti still trying to make another waiver deal?
“We are still looking at alternatives to improve the team,” he said.
TV ratings soar
Indians attendance is heading toward an increase of more than 300,000, probably about 25 percent, but the more positive news concerning fan interest are the club’s television ratings.
According to SportsTime Ohio, ratings are up almost 100 percent on STO game telecasts compared to last year. Combined with the 12 games aired by WKYC (Channel 3), ratings have increased more than 50 percent.
STO says it is reaching an average of nearly 200,000 viewers 18 and over. Viewing interest seems to be holding, even though the club started to lose its stranglehold on first place over the past month.
The Aug. 11 game against the Tigers was the second-most watched game of the season with a 9.4 rating, exceeded only by the April 30 game against the Tigers. The Aug. 7 game against the Texas Rangers is No. 3 on the list with a 9.1 rating, and the Aug. 5 game against the Boston Red Sox is the fifth-most watched game of the year with an 8.7 rating.
This month, the Tribe has dominated prime-time rankings in Northeast Ohio. Of the top five broadcasts (programming includes the top 20 shows on the local ABC, NBC and Fox outlets) for the week of Aug. 1, four were Indians games.
Of the top five telecasts during the week of Aug. 8, three were Tribe games. For these two weeks, Indians games are the only locally produced shows to appear in the top 20.
Nobody to blame
When a team is inundated with injuries, the head trainer sometimes bears an unfair burden of responsibility.
General Manager Chris Antonetti says there is no basis for making that kind of judgment about head trainer Lonnie Soloff.
“When you look at the nature of our injuries, so many are traumatic,” Antonetti said. “Jason Kipnis is the first player to go on our DL with a hamstring injury since 2008. We’ve been able to control many of the soft-tissue injuries. But what we’ve been getting are a lot of traumatic injuries. You can’t control Jonathan Sanchez hitting Shin-Soo Choo with a pitch in the exact spot that breaks his thumb. I’m not sure how you can do anything about those things.”
Even keel steers the ship
It’s no accident that manager Manny Acta rarely loses control of his emotions.
“All my hot-headed friends are either in jail or dead,” he said. “I’m on my second job as a major-league manager.”
Living with mistakes
Last Friday night, replays showed that every member of the umpiring crew at Comerica Park missed at least one call on the bases.
Not all of the calls went against the Tribe, but that’s not the point.
“That’s not something we can control,” Antonetti said. “In the end, we mostly win and lose because of the way we play.”
That doesn’t mean obvious blown calls are ignored. Antonetti revealed that the Indians sometimes complain to the commissioner’s office, either by phone or in writing. At times, the response admits an error by the umpires, though that does not change the result of the play.
Other stuff
In 19 career starts at Progressive Field, Josh Tomlin is 13-4 with a 3.58 ERA, including an 8-3 record and 3.58 ERA this year. … Shelley Duncan is 6-for-12 in his past three games. … In his past four games, Ezequiel Carrera is 8-for-18. … Jack Hannahan is 11-for-28 with four RBI in his past nine games.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters. Follow the Indians on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Indians. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
