Joe Thon is in his second year coaching in the Dodgers’ system, serving this year as the bench coach for Triple-A Oklahoma City after holding the same job for High-A Great Lakes in 2025. During part of last season, Thon was undergoing kidney dialysis, and needed a kidney transplant in December. The donor was his […]
Joe Thon is in his second year coaching in the Dodgers’ system, serving this year as the bench coach for Triple-A Oklahoma City after holding the same job for High-A Great Lakes in 2025.
During part of last season, Thon was undergoing kidney dialysis, and needed a kidney transplant in December. The donor was his father, Dickie Thon, a major league shortstop for 15 years. From Brian McTaggart at MLB.com:
Joe, 34, was a bit hesitant at first to take his father’s kidney, and for good reason. Dickie is 67 years old and healthy, but the idea of taking a kidney from his father made Joe uncomfortable. It took urging from his dad and doctors to convince him it was the right course of action.
“I didn’t want to put him in a tough spot, either,” Joe said. “But the doctors assured me that everything was good. It wouldn’t really take too much of a toll physically, but you hate to put somebody in a spot like that. But it was best for me and my family, too. Dad was really adamant he wanted to do it.”
Dodgers minor league pitcher Michael Vilchez, a 22-year-old right-hander out of Curacao who pitched last season for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, was among the pitchers listed in reserve for The Netherlands as part of the designated pitcher pool for the World Baseball Classic. Michael Clair at MLB.com has more info on the complete list.
Neil de Mause writes about the economics of publicly-financed sports stadiums at Field of Schemes, and he talked to Marc Normandin about that in relation to MLB’s labor battle and the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations:
The books are never opened for a reason, and MLB teams insisting that real estate revenue made at a baseball stadium isn’t baseball revenue is another reason to keep them closed. Having to open the books and argue about what is or isn’t revenue would take longer than the rest of bargaining combined, and it’s not even clear if the owners would agree with each other, never mind the players, about what constitutes baseball revenue.
Category: General Sports
