The day began quietly, with Jim Parque playing with his remote-controlled car and James Baldwin telling teammates he was thinking about braiding his hair into cornrows.
But before long, the David Wells controversy would flare up again, Frank Thomas would ask for a contract sweetener and Jerry Manuel would have to quell rumors that Thomas had stormed out of camp.
Welcome to White Sox camp.
The biggest news was a New York Times report that Toronto has asked for the return of David Wells as compensation for Mike Sirotka’s shoulder injury. Sox General Manager Ken Williams declined to confirm the report and said it doesn’t matter exactly whom the Blue Jays are asking for. The answer is the same as it was two weeks ago.
“Whether it’s compensation or negating the whole deal, our case is in,” Williams said. “It’s up to the commissioner’s office to decide who’s right and who’s wrong.”
Baseball operations chief Sandy Alderson, whom Commissioner Bud Selig put in charge of the investigation, has not given a timetable for a ruling on the Sirotka case. It now appears a final decision may not come until next week.
“The one thing I’m sure of is that Sandy and the commissioner’s office will be thorough in their investigative process,” Williams said.
Williams spoke to the team Wednesday to allay fears some players would wind up in Toronto as compensation. Wells is expected to report to Sox camp Thursday, according to his agent, though he probably won’t work out.
The Big Storm: Thomas said Wednesday morning he had been excused from workouts for a couple days and would report back Friday. But when Thomas left before Williams’ pre-workout address to the team, rumors spread that the Big Hurt had angrily left camp.
“Every spring I give guys close to six complete days off,” Manuel said. “[Thomas] said he wanted to take two days off early. That’s not a problem with me. Someone said he stormed out of camp and I was wrestling him on his way out. That didn’t happen.”
Then there were no words between the two, like last year’s infamous blow-up?
“Yeah, he threw a right, and I tried to get him with a left,” Manuel said jokingly. “He dropped me. I couldn’t get up.”
The excused absences of Thomas and Wells has put Manuel on the defensive, accused of coddling his superstars and potentially disrupting the chemistry that worked so well in 2000. Veteran Cal Eldred said no Sox player should care whether Thomas or Wells is in camp.
“As long as they were excused by Jerry, that should be good enough for anyone in this room,” Eldred said.
Thomas looked to be in the best shape he has been in at the start of camp for at least eight years.
“I’m really excited about him,” Manuel said. “I didn’t realize he was walking into [controversy].”
Manuel said the Sox need to learn how to handle distractions like Thomas’ affair, because they finally are getting some media attention.
“We should be foundationally above that,” Manuel said. “This spring we have more coverage than we ever had, and that’s a good thing. Anything that might come up that’s adversity or a distraction, that’s good. It’ll give me a feel on how we handle it. That’s what made the New York teams so tough. They have the pressure of the exposure. You have to be tough.”
