|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Big Hurt skips practice again
Updated: Saturday February 24, 2001 3:10 PM
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- The Big Hurt feels a bit slighted. He wants a raise and he's willing to sit out to make his point. Frank Thomas, slated to make $9.9 million this season, skipped the his third straight workout with the Chicago White Sox on Friday. He telephoned manager Jerry Manuel on Thursday night to express his feelings and say he wouldn't be in because his salary is too low. It's unclear if or when Thomas will rejoin the team. "It's just a situation where he feels he's right. I don't know. It's a tough thing for us right now," Manuel said Friday. "I didn't feel the timing was right. My thing was to make sure Frank was receiving proper advice." The mandatory reporting date is next Tuesday. Chicago's position players have been working out since Wednesday, when Thomas arrived, unpacked his bag and took a physical. He then left before new general manager Kenny Williams talked to the team. Manuel said at the time Thomas had been given permission to skip the first two days of drills. Thomas, who hit .328 with 43 homers and 143 RBIs a year ago after two substandard seasons, seemed relaxed and loose Wednesday. He said he'd live by the deal he signed after the 1997 season, a contract that runs through 2006, but that he deserved a raise. He is scheduled to make a base of $9,927,000 in each of the next six seasons. With the recent $252 million, 10-year contract signed by Alex Rodriguez, Thomas says he and others such as Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield are lagging behind. "What I'm being paid now is way off the pay scale," Thomas said earlier in the week. "I'm not even probably in the top 50. I do have a problem with that right now. ... Hopefully, we'll come to terms. I've never been greedy. I've never tried to be the top-paid player in this game when I could've been. The bottom line is what's fair is fair." Thomas first talked with Williams and owner Jerry Reinsdorf about his contract in December. Then on Friday, he sent a message with his absence. "We are disappointed. I talked to Frank today and let him know of our disappointment," Williams said. "Frank has expressed himself to us and we understand what his position is." Thomas' agent Mike Moye, didn't go into details. "We are continuing to talk to Frank and White Sox management in an effort to resolve this issue," Thomas said. His teammates didn't seem perturbed Friday, or at least they weren't saying so. "It's just that Frank sticks out more than other guys," Cal Eldred said. "He's usually at the center of attention for good reasons, bad reasons. When I saw him he was in great shape. We need his bat and he means a lot to this organization." Thomas went to dinner with teammates Ray Durham and James Baldwin on Wednesday night to let them how he felt. "It's not going to be a distraction," Baldwin said. "Frank's been here 11 years. I don't know what his situation is. I don't even know what he's making." Manuel, who got into a screaming match with Thomas last spring before the two patched up their relationship, said he's worried what Thomas' absence will mean. Not so much to the team, but to the player. "The bigger issue is he harming Frank Thomas," Manuel said, noting that Thomas won the fans back last season. Williams said he hoped Thomas would report before Tuesday, when the team could start fining him. "I do know he is a stubborn man. Through his first couple of years, he was so stubborn, he never made adjustments," Manuel said. "Whether that's the same spirit or stubbornness, it could be something that could last a while." Notes: Williams acknowledged he's scheduled to meet with Sandy Alderson of the commissioner's office this weekend to discuss the review of the David Wells-for-Mike Sirotka trade.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
