The Big Hurt's Canadian Vacation

Mike Sweeney, meet your replacement. Frank Thomas' tour of Canada is officially over.

The old school designated hitter was back in the Oakland Athletics' lineup Thursday afternoon for the series finale against the Minnesota Twins, batting clean-up after a short hiatus with the Toronto Blue Jays.

"It's great to be back," he said.

Since The Big Hurt cleared waivers on Wednesday afternoon, Oakland snatched him up, becoming responsible for just $337,000 of the $390k league minimum salary. That's a pretty sweet deal, says Billy Beane.

He went 0-for-3 today, walking and scoring a run in his first plate appearance with the A's. He averaged .167 over 16 games this season for the Jays with three homers and 11 RBIs, after hitting .277 a year ago with 26 longballs and 95 RBIs.

[AP]