Their White Sox seasons–and perhaps their careers, at least as we know them–are over for Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez.
And, despite management’s insistence, the Sox’s season may have ended as well with the twin losses of their historically most productive hitters.
Perhaps wanting finality to the issue, the Sox formally announced that Thomas was lost Friday after an examination of his fractured left foot revealed he would need another six to eight weeks of recovery in a cast.
In another two weeks they should be making the same official announcement for Ordonez, who suffered a bone bruise on his left knee.
“He’ll be ready for spring training,” trainer Herm Schneider said of Ordonez. “I don’t think he’ll play anymore this year . . . unless a miracle occurs.”
It might be a miracle if Ordonez ever returns to the Sox, although he has not helped his value on next winter’s free-agent market by playing in only 52 games.
Ordonez already has turned down a Sox contract proposal worth $70 million over five years, thinking the offer might be greener on the other side of free agency. It may not be.
Thomas most likely will return, if only because he has the option for $8 million if he so desires. But Thomas will be 37 years old next season and coming off a 74-game season. The Sox are also hinting that he may need off-season surgery to insert a screw into the foot.
“Yes, yes I do,” manager Ozzie Guillen said when asked if he worries about Thomas’ career. “Every time you have surgery or something wrong with you, you put doubts in people’s minds. . . . Frank’s got a good chance to be a Hall of Famer. I hope he gets a chance to finish his career in a good way.”
In Chicago?
“Why not?” Guillen asked. “Is he going to finish up his career here? I hope. If he’s not . . . it’s not up to me.”
“One thing this season taught me,” general manager Ken Williams said, “is not to assume anything.”
Williams is not even assuming his team is out of the playoff picture, even though it’s missing its Big Two from the middle of the lineup and is six games behind front-running Minnesota in the American League Central Division. “We can’t sit around and cry, we’ve got to pick it up,” Williams said.
Williams has all but admitted that he cannot replace the big bats of Thomas and Ordonez for the rest of this season.
The huge contract of Larry Walker–who went to the Cardinals from Colorado on Friday–may have been too large for Williams to justify for a team falling further behind, unless he could somehow cook up a separate deal with the Cardinals.
When Roberto Alomar was brought on board instead of a power hitter, it was obvious Williams and Guillen were trying to change this from a plodding, power-driven American League team to a run-and-bunt National League-style team out of necessity. But they are trying to do it right in the middle of the season.
“It’s not the big things we’re lacking, it’s the little things,” Williams said. “It cost us five or six games since the All-Star break.
“After we struck out in getting a prototypical DH-type hitter prior to the trade deadline, we had to focus our attention on other things.
“Robbie certainly provides you with many of the intangibles that you want to [help] manufacture runs.”
When Thomas went on the disabled list July 10, the Sox were a half-game behind Minnesota. When Ordonez went on the disabled list for the second and final time July 22, the Sox were still a half-game behind Minnesota.
And now?
“Without Frank and Magglio, we’ve got a different look top to bottom,” Williams said, “but I still believe we can get this done. If I’m wrong, let’s go down fighting.”
