Thome Traded Back to Indians

The Cleveland Indians acquired designated hitter Jim Thome from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday for a player to be named later.

The Twins placed Thome on waivers on Monday and the two teams completed the deal after Thome agreed to waive his no trade clause to rejoin the team he began his Major League career with in 1991.

In 12 seasons with the Indians Thome hit a franchise record 334 home runs, and earlier this month with the Twins, on August 15, he became just the eighth player to hit 600 career home runs in the major leagues. He also spent time with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jim Thome is a Hall of Fame-caliber player and person, Cleveland Indians executive vice president and general manager Chris Antonetti said in a statement on their website (www.cleveland.indians.mlb.com).

He has meant so much to this organization, both on and off the field, and it is an honor to bring him back in an Indians uniform where he created so many great memories.

Having his bat and presence in the middle of the lineup certainly improves our team.

Thome is hitting .243 with 12 home runs and 40 RBI's in 71 games this season and joins a young Indians team who have exceeded expectations this season and are still in with a chance of taking out the American League Central title.

They trail Detroit by 6- games with more than a month of the regular season remaining.

This is the right thing to do for Jim Thome, Twins general manager Bill Smith said.

We have loved having him in our organization the past two seasons. He's one of the great gentlemen in the game, and this gives him a chance to go full circle, to go back to Cleveland where he started his career.

It puts him back in a pennant race.