Extra Mustard

IS THERE A PLAYER MORE INTEGRAL TO HIS TEAM'S OFFENSE THAN OAKLAND DH FRANK THOMAS? While the 38-year-old Big Hurt was hitting only .265 at week's end and was bothered earlier this season by a quadriceps injury, his 26 home runs and .386 on-base percentage were critical to a team that ranked second to last in the American League in runs scored (4.5 per game). According to Baseball Prospectus 's Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) rankings-which compare the runs a major leaguer has created with the runs a waiver-wire or Triple A-caliber player at the same position would produce-Thomas contributed 26.5 more runs than a replacement-level DH would have, ranking him 64th in the majors but well ahead of every other A's player. Excluding the 13 players who had a negative VORP, Oakland hitters combined for a VORP of only 69.6 runs. That means Thomas's contribution (38.1%) was the highest percentage in the majors, exceeding that of the Astros ' Lance Berkman (36.1%), the Orioles ' Miguel Tejada (33.8%), the Marlins ' Miguel Cabrera (31.9%) and the Cardinals' Albert Pujols (31.6%).

? More from Tom Verducci and Baseball Prospectus at SI.com /baseball.