This season we saw that the "Free Jonny Gomes" campaign take place. It was almost like everyone but Chuck Lamar and Lou Piniella knew that Gomes should be at the major league level.
The first I heard of this term was on Aaron Gleeman's blog when the "Free Johan Santana" campaign was in effect. Seems, the fans in that case knew exactly what they were talking about as he wrapped up his first Cy Young last season.
Currently making headlines is the situtaion in Philadelphia. Citizen blog is saying its time to sit Jim. The campagin has hit the NY Times asking to "Free Ryan Howard!"
Is it that the fans have a better read than the highly paid baseball executives. It sure seems that way. The Blogosphere can be a powerfull tool if the GMs tapped into it more in my opinion. Then again, why do they have one guy being the decision maker. Hate the Yankees or not, they have a collection of people making the decisions.
The Phillies situation is one where their hands are tied. They have a high paid veteran keeping his job based on what he done in the past. Not on his current production.
Just for the record, I traded Thome last week from my fantasy team for a player who is less known and got blasted for it. The lesser known player had twice the HRs as the former star.
If the situation with Thome continues we might have a Dale Murphy situation on our hands. By that, I mean a player who was once great, but people only remember him from his last few years. I wonder if Thome is hurting or what.
The typical move is to make a position change for the young player so he gets somewhat of a chance. What would you do if you were Ed Wade?
Update [2005-7-1 16:40:53 by David M. Bloom]:Howard was recalled and Thome was placed on the DL.