Sometimes the only way to get a direct answer is to ask a blunt question, as White Sox fans proved on Saturday at SoxFest.
They asked Frank Thomas how he felt about David Wells getting hurt after publicly questioning the severity of Thomas’ triceps injury, and they asked him to explain himself for walking out of camp last February.
They asked general manager Ken Williams if a “personality conflict” prompted the Sean Lowe trade, and they asked him when, not if, he was going to trade Ray Durham.
They asked Durham if he was leaving Chicago as a free agent, and they asked him what could be done about the “excruciating” pain of watching the Sox constantly lose to Minnesota.
Most of the questions got straight answers. And some of the more straightforward responses drew ovations in a crowded ballroom at the downtown Hyatt Regency, including Durham’s answer about the legitimacy of a Twins threat.
“Honestly, I don’t think the Minnesota Twins can duplicate the season they had last year,” Durham said. “I’m not worried about them.”
Like Durham, Thomas said what was on his mind and didn’t hold back. One Sox fan asked him if he “subconsciously” thought, “You reap what you sow,” upon learning Wells would be disabled by back problems last July.
“I don’t hold grudges like that,” Thomas said. “I just know I’m a decent individual, and things happen for a reason sometimes.
“In the David Wells situation, it should have never happened. Some little people were wandering around, trying to make something happen between the two of us in that clubhouse, because he had a dominant personality, and I think everyone thinks I have a dominant personality too.
“We didn’t play well early, so people were looking for controversy. That situation is over. There are no hard feelings toward David. We’ve had many discussions. Just let it die. … It’s one of those things that got out of hand, and it became national because we’re big-name ballplayers. That’s just the way it is.”
Minutes later, another fan told Thomas he was “turned off” by his training-camp walkout in 2001 and asked him to defend his actions.
“We’ve got to look at baseball as a game, but it’s also a business,” Thomas said. “Last spring we had problems with a [contract] situation that never should have gotten into the media. We were trying to handle it in the front office. It all started happening and I think it turned off a lot of fans, and everyone who has always supported me for years. You know, those things do happen in the game of baseball.
“I know my gripes are very legitimate. It’s something you have to deal with. I’ll move on from that. I apologize to the fans, like I did last year. This year I’m going to play baseball. Some things shouldn’t be in the press.”
Williams was asked why he traded Lowe, and whether a “personality conflict” between them had anything to do with it.
Williams explained that the Sox were “16 deep” on their pitching staff and that “we had alternatives to plug into [Lowe’s] spot.”
With Durham becoming a free agent after the season, he and Williams were asked about Durham’s uncertain future in Chicago. When a youngster asked Williams when Durham would be traded, he said “[manager Jerry Manuel] and I would have to put on the boxing gloves, because he’d be awfully upset.”
Durham, in turn, said he didn’t plan on leaving the Sox any time soon.
“This is my home,” Durham said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
