VONP (Value over Nick Punto)

Thome as a pH would have a value of about 2 runs above the expected output of Punto/Harris over 60 AB.  The methodology is below the jump.  The rates below are per AB and take into account platoon splits and a pH penalty.  If he only gets 60 pH ABs he would be almost worth his contract.  0.4M + 0.2WAR x 4M/WAR = 1.2M.  If he gets 200 AB vs RHP he'd add another 0.7 WAR and would be a steal.  I honestly can't see why the White Sox would prefer a rotating DH.

Punto .04 runs/AB, Harris .03 runs/AB, Young .02 runs/AB, Hardy  .015 runs/AB.  He would have negative value pH for Mauer, Morneau, Span, Cuddyer, Kubel, although this probably goes without saying.  It is assumed that he'd be facing a RHP who would not be lifted for a Loogy. 

Gaging Thome's worth as a pinch hitter is difficult for a couple of reasons.  First Jim Thome has a significant split.  In fact, from 2000-04 he had the largest split in the majors.  He has had a split of over .100 wOBA over the last 3 years.  This should be regressed to the mean but still leaves him with a roughly 0.054 wOBA split compared to an average LHB split of 0.024.  Another consideration is that PH perform worse on average than they would as starters to the tune of 0.034 of wOBA.  When pinch hitting the splits of the player he's pinch hitting for needs to be considered.  In these cases I used the average platoon split in the league for each player.  Finally, I'm not sure how much leverage to give him as their aren't many pH in the AL.  The average in the NL for pH with > 40 chances was roughly 1.3.   

The math goes like this:  (Thome's wOBA vs RHP - wOBA of player pinch hit for vs RHP)/1.15 = unleveraged runs/AB.  

Thome's wOBA vs RHP = projected wOBA (marcel 0.360) + .054 x percent of LHP faced = .376.  This accounts for the issue that his projected wOBA assumes the same percentage of RHP going forward.  If we'd only pH or start him against RHP this needs to be adjusted.

Thomes wOBA vs RHP as a pH = 0.376 - pH penalty (0.034) = .342