Thome Won’t Strand Team on the Corner

Jim Thome reports to Boston tonight as the American League’s starting first baseman in Tuesday night’s All-Star game. He will return to Cleveland on Wednesday as the Indians’ third baseman--probably for the rest of the season.

The loss of Travis Fryman because of a torn knee ligament suffered July 3 is prompting Thome to return to his original position. He came up as a third baseman but hasn’t played that position since the end of the 1996 season, when the Indians acquired Matt Williams.

“This says a lot about what kind of guy Jim is,” Manager Mike Hargrove said. “Here you’ve got a player who is the starting first baseman in the All-Star game willing to make a move like this. I can’t say enough good things about him. I don’t know how many other players would be willing to do it.”

Said Thome: “It’s going to be different. I don’t know how it’s going to feel or how it’s going to go. It’s been a long time since I played there.”

The Indians have baseball’s best record. The loss of Fryman hurts, but they have the weapons to compensate.

The concern with Thome is that he has added 30 pounds of muscle since he last played at third and may have lost some mobility.

“No matter who we put at third, he isn’t going to be as good as Travis,” Hargrove said. “There are going to be trade-offs with anyone. With Thome at third, it allows us to play Richie Sexson at first base every day.”

The Indians have one of baseball’s most vaunted power prospects, Russ Branyan, playing third base at triple-A Buffalo but are concerned about his strikeout proclivity. There has been speculation about a trade, with Tony Phillips, Gary Gaetti, Shane Andrews and Carlos Baerga (the former Indian now with San Diego) among the names that have been mentioned.

“A trade is always possible, but I don’t sense anything serious,” Hargrove said. “Jim is the man right now.”

The six Indians who have been selected for the All-Star game can say hello to the seven former Indians who also have been selected: Williams, Tony Fernandez, Jay Bell, Paul Byrd, Sean Casey, Jeromy Burnitz and Jeff Kent. The Cleveland management has never been afraid to pull the trigger--one reason for the team’s sustained success.

The last time Jose Canseco appeared in an All-Star game?

“I can’t remember that far,” he said. “I think it was 1942.”

It was 1992, a seven-year lapse between elections as a starter that is the second longest since the voting system was implemented in 1970.

Canseco is returning as the designated hitter, having hit 31 homers through a half-season with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

“I’ve come full circle,” he said. “As a baseball player, no one has experienced as much as I’ve experienced. I was talked about being the best player in the world, hands down, by far, at one point, being this freak that nobody understood. I was 6-4, 250 pounds and running 4.3, 4.4 40s. The first guy to do 40-40 [homers and steals in a season]. Then I was more or less an outcast, completely forgotten, the worst player, a total joke, washed up, and now I’m an All-Star again. It’s been some ride.”

As the $84-million Baltimore Orioles limp into the break, rumors of a managerial change have surfaced again, with Eddie Murray said to be the likely replacement if Ray Miller is fired early in the second half. Of course, owner Peter Angelos still can’t seem to decide whether to fire Miller, General Manager Frank Wren, both or neither. The Orioles have been operating under the uncertainty since May