Big Hurt gets over White Sox flap, looks to get healthy

	The A's need Frank Thomas to fill a valuable role as a right-handed power hitter this season. AP
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PHOENIX -- It's a little past 8 on a chilly spring training morning, and Frank Thomas is churning away on a stationary bike in the A's clubhouse at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. This has been Thomas' fate for way too long: a lot of sweat, a lot of motion and not much movement.

"I've worked my butt off," the Big Hurt says, "so, hopefully, it pays off."

Well, we'll find out soon enough. This will be a huge, maybe pivotal season for Thomas, one of the best designated hitters ever. After 16 mostly prolific years with the White Sox, Thomas found himself out of a job after an acrimonious split with the World Series champs in the offseason. He landed on his feet -- or one of them, anyway -- by signing a one-year deal with a young, deep, talented A's team that should be favored to win the American League West.

Thomas, who has a .307 lifetime average and sits 40th on the career home run list with 448, is just what the A's need: a middle-of-the-order right-handed masher to play off lefty slugger Eric Chavez. For Thomas' signing to work, though, he has to get healthy. And that's been a big question with him for a couple of years -- not to mention every single, stinking day since the A's arrived in Phoenix.

"I've been asked questions about him all spring," Ken Macha, the manager of the A's, said in carefully measured words. "We are going to take our time."

Thomas has begun to swing in batting practice only in the past week, and on Monday he ran hard for the first time in almost a year and said he "felt great." He's done the bike work, he's done his workouts in the weight room, he's put pressure on his surgically repaired left ankle in what he calls "superfast" walking. The A's are planning to use him as a DH in some minor league games in the next week, too, though he won't run.

For all that work, he still seems a long, long way from being ready for the start of the season.

"I plan on April 1 being healthy. That's my goal. I don't know where people get this [other] stuff from," Thomas insists. "That's my goal, April 1. That's been my goal all offseason. And we're on schedule right now.

"I've waited enough time. I've waited eight full months to let this thing heal. That was important."

The A's have plenty of options for DH if Thomas is not ready by the season opener. But the team's goal is clear: Get him ready and keep him healthy for as much of the season as possible. The A's don't want a replay of Thomas' last two years in Chicago, when he played in a total of 108 games.

To his credit, the 6-foot-5, 240-ish-pound Thomas has kept himself in what appears to be exemplary shape. He does his daily cardiovascular regimen on the bike and his strength work in the weight room. He's watching what he eats and he seems reinvigorated by his change of teams. The relationship between the Sox and Thomas got nasty at times over the past couple of years, spilling over into the offseason when Thomas again complained about his breakup with the organization and White Sox general manager Kenny Williams responded by calling him an "idiot."

Williams wouldn't address questions about Thomas on Monday when the Sox played the A's in Phoenix. Thomas, for his part, played it mostly low-key too.

"I've turned the page. I had a wonderful time there. I love the fans. I love my experience in Chicago. It's over now. It's time to move on," he said. "I've been accepted here with open arms. It's time to cut that cord and move on with something different in my life. No ill will. No hard feelings.

"I've been on too many teams and seen too many people let go -- great players. Sooner or later it's your time. That's just the way I look at things."

Whether Thomas can truly move on depends on just how quickly that foot injury heals and, of course, making sure that he stays on his feet once he gets there.

Until then, he'll just be spinning his wheels.