Jim Thome & The 300 Club

by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 11:54 AM PDT in Dodgers History & Records

Jim Thome comes to the Dodgers with 564 career home runs, the most by any player ever acquired by the club. Here is a look at every player with 300 or more career home runs that became a Dodger, with their numbers in blue:

Player	Age	HR Before	Dodger HR	PA	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS+
JIm Thome	38	564	???	??	???	???
Manny Ramirez	36	510	32	561	.345/.453/.631	182
Eddie Murray*	41	504	0	9	.286/.444/.286	103
Frank Robinson	36	503	6	405	.251/.353/.442	127
Fred McGriff	39	478	13	329	.249/.322/.428	99
Andruw Jones	31	368	3	238	.158/.256/.249	34
Boog Powell	35	339	0	53	.244/.415/.244	83
Eddie Murray*	33	333	65	1974	.278/.359/.440	125
Luis Gonzalez	39	331	15	526	.278/.359/.433	101
Jeff Kent	37	302	75	2146	.291/.367/.479	118

*Eddie Murray was actually acquired twice with over 300 home runs -- once in 1989 and again in 1997.

Jones and Powell cratered after joining the Dodgers, but the rest were reasonably productive wearing Dodger Blue. The Hall of Famers -- and I'm including Manny Ramirez here -- in the group all performed very well after joining the Dodgers. But Jim Thome, Hall of Fame resume or not, doesn't have to put up huge numbers to succeed.

Jim Thome won't be playing regularly. His job is to be the big bopper off the bench. The Dodgers gave up a non-prospect in Justin Fuller to get him If Thome can get a big hit here or there, especially in the playoffs, this trade is a sizable win for the Dodgers.

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Eric is it a done deal that the player traded for Garland is Tony Abreu?

by Dodgermanramon on Sep 1, 2009 12:20 PM PDT via mobile reply actions

Probably 99% accurate. Abreu needs to clear waivers first though before anything is announced. Could take a day or two, depending on when he was put on waivers (they take two days).

by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 12:22 PM PDT up reply actions

why is it that he has to clear waivers before its announced?

by Dodgermanramon on Sep 1, 2009 12:27 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Because players can’t be traded after July 31 without first clearing waivers. In reality, he just has to get past the Nats, Reds, Pirates, and Padres, the teams with worse records than the D-Backs.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 12:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Ok what would happen if he doesnt clear waivers also the player traded for Jim Thome did he have to clear waivers also

by Dodgermanramon on Sep 1, 2009 12:36 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Thome has already cleared waivers

likely what will happen if Abreu doesn’t clear is that the deal won’t be completed until after the season. But the Dodgers will still get Thome now.

by Michael White on Sep 1, 2009 12:37 PM PDT up reply actions

No, the player for Thome (Justin Fuller) did not need to clear waivers

because he’s not on the 40-man roster.

by silverwidow on Sep 1, 2009 1:13 PM PDT up reply actions

So Thome had to get past all teams, both AL/NL, that had worse records than the Dodgers?

You wanna know how great baseball is? The greatest basketball player ever left his sport to play baseball.

by Jesse S. on Sep 1, 2009 1:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Thome had to pass through waivers. Same league (AL) gets first dibs, then it goes to the other league.

In other words, nobody put in a claim on Thome.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 2:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Oh okay. This is interesting learning all these intricacies.

You wanna know how great baseball is? The greatest basketball player ever left his sport to play baseball.

by Jesse S. on Sep 1, 2009 4:55 PM PDT up reply actions

I remember being irked at Garvey for not taking a day off once in a while so Boog Powell could play. He was a fan favorite even though he never played. We loved to yell BOOOOOGGGGGGGG when he pinch hit.

by meercatjohn on Sep 1, 2009 12:41 PM PDT reply actions

Because that was his last season, he never got a 1978 baseball card (because for the most part since he was no longer a part of the players’ association he wasn’t included in the next year’s set; I believe this has been corrected recently).

That would have been a cool thing to see.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 12:44 PM PDT up reply actions

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Pos	No	Player	2012 Salary
C	17	Ellis	$490,000
1B	7	Loney	$6,375,000
2B	37	Herrera	$375,082
3B	6	Hairston	$2,250,000
SS	9	Gordon	$485,000
LF	23	Abreu	$401,311
CF	10	Gwynn	$850,000
RF	16	Ethier	$10,950,000

OF/1B	33	Van Slyke	$388,197
2B/3B	3	Kennedy	$800,000
OF/1B	30	Sands	$375,175
IF	13	DeJesus	$448,992
C	18	Treanor	$850,000

SP	22	Kershaw	$6,000,000
SP	58	Billingsley	$9,000,000
SP	29	Lilly	$12,000,000
SP	44	Harang	$3,000,000
SP	35	Capuano	$3,000,000

CL	74	Jansen	$491,000
RHP	52	Lindblom	$483,000
RHP	51	Belisario	$414,426
RHP	54	Guerra	$488,000
RHP	28	Wright	$900,000
LHP	57	Elbert	$488,500
RHP	60	Coffey	$1,000,000

DL	27	Kemp	$10,000,000
DL	21	Rivera	$4,000,000
DL	12	Sellers	$481,000
DL	5	Uribe	$8,000,000
DL	55	Guerrier	$4,750,000
DL	14	Ellis	$2,500,000
60DL	36	Hawksworth	$495,000
60DL	41	De La Rosa	$485,000

AA	50	Eovaldi	$7,885
AAA	56	Antonini	$7,869

		Manny	$8,087,432	deferred
		Andruw	$3,375,000	deferred
		Pierre	$3,050,000	deferred
		Furcal	$3,000,000	deferred
		Kuroda	$2,000,000	deferred
		Garland	$1,500,000	option buyout
		Blake	$1,250,000	option buyout
DFA	66	MacDougal	$650,000

Totals			$115,942,869
For more detailed information, click here.
Current 40-man roster count: 42 (incl. De La Rosa & Hawksworth)

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