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Thames announced his retirement from professional baseball on Wednesday. Thames did so in his personal Instagram page, writing: "The day has finally come. In the year of our lord, twenty, twenty-three...HE GONE! I've been so blessed over these last 14 years to call baseball my job." The now-36-year-old slugger played for the Blue Jays, Mariners, Brewers and Nationals over parts of six major-league seasons and posted a career .792 OPS with 96 home runs in 605 games. He'll also go down as a power-hitting legend in Korea and Japan.
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Thames was released by Oakland on Tuesday, Melissa Lockard of The Athletic reports. Thames joined the Athletics as a non-roster invitee but failed to win a roster spot. He produced a merely average 100 wRC+ in 22 games for Triple-A Las Vegas while striking out 38.0 percent of the time, which probably won't generate much interest on the open market.
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Thames was reassigned to Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Thames' minor-league deal with the Athletics seemingly put him in the best possible position to win a roster spot given the team's lack of alternatives at the position, but his .227/.346/.409 line in 11 spring games evidently wasn't good enough to earn him a job. Chad Pinder and Seth Brown could be the top options at first base heading into the start of the regular season, though the job could also go to non-roster invitee Billy McKinney.
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Thames went 2-for-3 with a double and a run in a Cactus League loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday. The veteran slugger pushed his spring average to .250 (4-for-16) with Tuesday's production. Thames has only struck out in four of his 19 plate appearances and has drawn three walks along the way thus far, an encouraging sign for a player who recorded at least a 30.0 percent strikeout rate in each of his last three seasons. Thames remains in a battle with Billy McKinney and Dalton Kelly for the first base job.
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Thames, who is in camp on a minor-league deal, seemingly has a better chance at securing a roster spot with the big-league club in the wake of Monday's trade of Matt Olson to Atlanta. Thames last played in the majors back in 2020 for the Nationals, posting a .203/.300/.317 slash line with three home runs and 12 RB across 41 games that season. However, the veteran slugged 25 homers the season prior in Milwaukee, a campaign in which he also generated a solid .877 OPS versus right-handed pitching. If Thames can demonstrate he still has sufficient pop in his bat this spring, his 269 games of big-league experience at first base could certainly help him lock in a possible platoon role to open the season, potentially alongside the ultra-versatile Chad Pinder.
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