Frank Thomas will arrive back at White Sox camp on Tuesday, ending a six-day boycott of team workouts stemming from his contract dispute.
White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met with Thomas on Monday in Tucson in an effort to resolve the contract squabble, which began last September but exploded last Wednesday when Thomas left camp saying he wanted his deal restructured.
Reinsdorf appeared at Sox camp earlier in the day, but declined several media requests to address the situation.
“The ball is in Frank’s court,” Reinsdorf said, declining to elaborate.
Team sources said Thomas will return to camp on Tuesday, the mandatory reporting date for all major league players. Sources said Reinsdorf has agreed to remove the “revised payment right” in Thomas’ contract, the one that could defer $10 million a year for the remainder of the deal if Thomas were to suffer what’s termed a “diminution of skills,” leaving him with an annual base salary of $250,000 until the deal ends after the 2006 season. Thomas could become a free agent if the clause were to be exercised, making it unlikely the Sox would make such a move unless he sustained a career-threatening injury.
Thomas first asked Reinsdorf to remove the clause last September, but Reinsdorf refused. The clause, which kicks in after this season, would have been removed automatically had Thomas won the Most Valuable Player award last year. But despite a career-best season, Thomas slumped in the final two weeks and finished second to Oakland’s Jason Giambi.
Thomas met with Reinsdorf again in December and once again asked him to remove the clause, also requesting a salary increase following Alex Rodriguez’s $252 million deal with Texas.
The Sox were reportedly prepared to make an offer worth around $180 million to Rodriguez, though Rodriguez’s agent, Scott Boras, never even let Sox General Manager Ken Williams interview his client. Thomas believed that if Reinsdorf had that kind of money to shower on A-Rod, he deserved a pay raise with some of the money that was never spent.
Sources say Thomas was asking for an additional $25 million over the final six years of the deal, an average of around $4.2 million per year. If Reinsdorf met Thomas’ demands, Thomas’ salary would have increased to around $14 million per year from its current $9.9 million. He would still rank well behind top-scale players such as Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Mike Hampton, making around the same average salary as Los Angeles outfielder Shawn Green.
Thomas, who ranked 38th in major league salaries last year at $7.1 million, said before leaving camp that he was only asking to be ranked among the top 20. Since 1990, only Barry Bonds has received more MVP votes than Thomas, 2,174 votes to 1,684.
Thomas has plenty of fence-mending to do, first with his teammates and then with the fans. Several Sox players said privately that Thomas’ move was selfish and hurts the team concept that helped drive the Sox to the division title last year.
“I have addressed a group of men, the core group of players, that in some cases deserve explanations [from Thomas],” manager Jerry Manuel said. “They’ve been forewarned about what’s been going on. … That’s not a concern of mine. I’m sure they’ll handle it in their own way as well.”
Thomas is expected to call a team meeting and apologize to his teammates about becoming a distraction. Manuel doesn’t think Thomas’ absence will affect his preparedness for the 2001 season.
“It’s still very, very early in spring training,” Manuel said. “I don’t foresee a problem with him conditioning-wise. When we saw him [on Wednesday] he looked pretty good. I thought he was in the best shape I’ve ever seen him in in the short time I’ve been here.”
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Will he or won’t he?
Will Frank Thomas show at Sox spring training camp? Get up-to-the-minute Internet reports Tuesday at: www.chicagosports.com
