By John Bonnes
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It was the end of the 2002 season. Jim Thome was a free agent after years of torturing
the Twins. (And particularly, Rick Reed. Good lord, did Big Jim take it to Rick Reed.
Did you know Reed still ranks as the guy that gave up the most home runs (9) to Thome,
even though he only had 27 at-bats against him? Think about that. He hit .333 JUST IN
HOME RUNS against Rick Reed. Lordy.)
Anyway, Thome was a free agent and as a blogger who is asked these sort of things all
the time, I must have received the question "Will the Twins sign Jim Thome?" roughly a
dozen times per week. Never mind that the Twins had made absolutely zero intimations
that they intended to pursue Jim Thome. Or that the Twins had a DH at the time named
David Ortiz. Or that the Twins still had no hint of a stadium. Hell, they had just
barely survived contraction. And yet EVERYONE wanted me to tell them the Twins might
chase Jim Thome.
It speaks to how Jim Thome always SEEMED like a fit for the Twins, even when there was
no practical way in which he was a fit for the Twins. He signed that year with the
Phillies for
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