Phillies trade Thome to Baltimore
The Phillies have traded first baseman/designated hitter Jim Thome to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for catcher Gabriel Lino and right-hander Kyle Simon, Senior Vice President & General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. announced today.
Thome, 41, batted .242 with two doubles, five home runs and 15 RBI in 30 games for the Phillies this year. He made four starts at first base and nine starts as the designated hitter.
During his second stint with the Phillies, Thome made history twice. On June 23, Thome hit his 13th career walk-off home run to become Major League Baseball’s all-time leader. He had previously been in a six-way tie with five Hall of Famers: Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson and Babe Ruth. With the home run, Thome also tied Sammy Sosa for seventh on the all-time list with 609. Additionally, on June 17 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, he hit his 100th home run as a member of the Phillies, making him the fourth player in major league history to have 100 home runs with three different teams (Phillies, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox), joining Darrell Evans, Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and Alex Rodriguez.
In his career as a Philadelphia Phillie, Thome batted .260 with 67 doubles, four triples, 101 home runs, 281 RBI and 268 walks in 391 games.
Lino is batting .218 with 13 doubles, four home runs and 18 RBI in 56 games for Delmarva this season. The 19-year-old was originally signed by the Orioles as a non-drafted free agent out of Maracay, Venezuela.
Simon, 21, is 2-8 with a 3.96 ERA in 14 starts for Frederick this year. The 6-foot-5, 225 pound righty from Long Beach, Calif., has a 3.63 ERA in 28 career minor league games with 58 strikeouts in 89.1 innings. Simon was selected by the Orioles in the 4th round of the June 2011 draft from the University of Arizona.