By the Associated Press
Major League Baseball
TUCSON, Ariz. – Frank Thomas returned to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday after missing six workouts while he tried to clarify his complex contract first agreed to in 1997.
He claimed throughout a 15-minute news conference that his stance wasn’t about money and that he never considered not honoring the contract that runs through 2006.
Thomas, who returned on the mandatory reporting date specified by baseball’s labor contract, is due $9,927,000 in each of the next six seasons, but only this year is really guaranteed.
If he fails to become an All-Star, win a Silver Slugger or finish among the top 10 in MVP voting, Chicago has the power to change his salary to $250,000, plus $10,125,000 deferred. If that happens-and the White Sox don’t have to invoke the clause -Thomas could terminate the contract and become a free agent.
Thomas met Monday night with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
Thomas also would like to rework some of the deferred money in his contract. His current contract calls for the team to defer $3,827,000 of each year’s salary with interest. He won’t get some of that until he’s in his 50s.
Before he left camp last week last Wednesday after taking a physical, Thomas complained that he was underpaid in relation to Alex Rodriguez’s $252 million, 10-year contract with Texas.
Thomas, who lost his agent Robert Fraley in the Payne Stewart plane crash, said he needed extra days to think about his contract before beginning workouts.
When Thomas first agreed to his contract in 1997, the guaranteed amount of the first four years averaged $7,756,750, the 10th-highest average salary in baseball at the time.
Thomas acknowledged that fans, whose favor he regained by hitting .328 last year with 43 homers and 143 RBIs, probably would turn on him.
He began his news conference by reading a statement in which he apologized to baseball fans, sports fans and his teammates. He said he would discuss the situation with his teammates one on one.
Manager Jerry Manuel, who got into a screaming match with Thomas a year ago in spring training, said he’s confident the six-day walkout will not affect his DH, a two-time AL MVP.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Albert Belle won’t be in Baltimore’s lineup for its spring opener against St. Louis on Friday because of a sore hip that has put his future with the team in doubt.
While Belle will miss the road trip to Jupiter, Fla., he is scheduled to start in right field the next day against the Minnesota Twins at Fort Lauderdale.
Bell has been used in right field for all three intrasquad games, with mixed results. He has hit the ball with authority, but continues to move poorly in the outfield and on the basepaths and hasn’t attempted to slide, even in drills.
Baltimore resists making projections on Belle based on his physical condition. He most likely will be restricted to use as the designated hitter.
“I didn’t come here with any preconceived notions about where Albert should be with his hip. I think that’s fairly untested waters for all of us,” Hargrove said. “You have an idea of at what point a player needs to be in order to be a productive player. I’ve got that idea. Where is he to that? I don’t care to answer that right now. I think that’s a question that’s better answered later.”
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra will miss at least two weeks with a right wrist injury.
The two-time defending AL batting champion has a split in a tendon in the wrist, which also is inflamed. It will be immobilized in a removable cast for 1-to-2 weeks and treated with medication.
The injury probably is a recurrence of the wrist problem he had after being hit by a pitch on Sept. 25, 1999, by Baltimore’s Al Reyes. Garciaparra said the wrist ached but wasn’t a major problem last year when he led the league with a .372 batting average.
Garciaparra said Wednesday he can’t throw a ball or swing a bat. He had gone through his usual workout without a problem Sunday but woke up the next morning with a swollen wrist.
He said the team physician, Dr. Bill Morgan, did not discuss the possibility of surgery.
National Hockey League
ST. LOUIS – Blues defenseman Chris Pronger, last year’s MVP, underwent successful surgery Tuesday to repair a broken left forearm that will keep him sidelined for the rest of the regular season.
Pronger, the St. Louis captain, was struck by a puck midway through the first period of a 7-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks Monday night. He tried to glove a clearing pass by teammate Alexander Khavanov and missed.
During the operation at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, six screws and a metal plate were inserted to repair the fracture. The injury is to the ulna bone, midway between his wrist and elbow and closest to the little finger. He wears no protective padding on that part of the arm.
Dr. Rick Wright, who performed the surgery, said the procedure lasted about an hour.
The Blues are hopeful Pronger, who was playing in his second game after missing 15 games due to arthroscopic knee surgery, can return in time for the playoffs. Wright said fractures in general take about six weeks to heal.
In Pronger’s first game back on Saturday, he scored to force overtime and assisted on the game-winner in the extra period in a 3-2 victory over Boston. He has seven goals and 37 assists in 47 games.
Pronger also won the Norris Trophy last season as the league’s best defenseman, and led the NHL in ice time at 30:14 per game. Last season he had 14 goals and 48 assists.
National Football League
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey -Jim Fassel signed a new four-year contract on with the New York Giants on Tuesday, just a month after taking the Giants to the Super Bowl.
Financial terms were not available, but Fassel reportedly will earn 11 million for the length of the contract. He earned 1.1 million last season, when the Giants turned from an also-ran into National Football Conference champions.
John Mara, the Giants’ executive vice president and general counsel said the contract “is reflective of what he has accomplished in four years here and where we think he can take us in the future. We can now get on with the task of getting our team back to the Super Bowl.”
The Giants made their first Super Bowl appearance in 10 years last month, losing to the Baltimore Ravens 34-7.
Fassel had a year left on the extension he signed after the 1999 season. That contract was ripped up on Tuesday, Mara said.
Fassel now has a 37-26-1 record.
College Football
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – An autopsy on Florida State linebacker Devaughn Darling of Houston was inconclusive and investigators say it may be weeks before the medical examiner knows the cause of death.
Also Tuesday, the university announced a memorial service for Darling, who collapsed and died after an offseason workout Monday, and a Florida State player told a Houston TV station that Darling had complained of chest pains during the fatal workout.
“He was complaining to the players, ‘It’s like my chest is hurting,” freshman offensive lineman Bobby Meeks told television station KRIV. “It was like (players saying) I don’t want to hear it or whatever.”
Meeks said Darling had problems before during workouts.
“This is not the first time he’s fallen out doing these,” Meeks said. “It happened once last week and once the week before.”
Meeks, in a statement released Tuesday by the university, said Darling didn’t tell the coaches or trainers about his chest pain.
Florida State’s offseason conditioning program, known as “mat drills,” is a series of 10 rigorous workouts over a three-week period prior to spring practice. The final two workouts this week were canceled after Darling’s death.
Darling’s twin brother, Devard-a wide receiver at Florida State-was also there when he collapsed.
The university said the memorial service for Darling will be Thursday. The family was finalizing funeral plans for Saturday in Houston.
College Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. – Mike Krzyzewski tried to look convincing when he said No. 2 Duke had to regroup following its worst loss of the season.
But the coach of the Blue Devils knew he had lost more than a game to No. 16 Maryland on Tuesday night.
Center Carlos Boozer went down in the second half with what Krzyzewski said was a broken bone in his right foot, meaning Duke’s run at a national championship is in jeopardy.
The 6-foot-9 Boozer, Duke’s main inside threat, hurt his foot early in the second half, tried to return, then left for good with more than 10 minutes left in the 91-80 loss.
The Blue Devils (25-4, 12-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) shot 24 percent in the second half without Boozer, who averages 13.9 points and 6.5 rebounds.
A win by North Carolina over N.C. State on Wednesday night would clinch the No. 1 seed in the ACC tourney for the Tar Heels and snap Duke’s run of outright regular-season titles at four.
“We pretty much saw this game as a must-win, and we didn’t get it,” Duke forward Mike Dunleavy said.
While the Terrapins (19-9, 9-6) gained confidence from the win, the mood in the Duke locker room was one of concern.
Casey Sanders, a 6-11 sophomore who has been a major disappointment so far in his career, will take over most of the inside load with Boozer out.
That’s because Matt Christensen, Duke’s top frontcourt reserve all season, has been sidelined with sore knees.
Duke’s depth also took a hit early in the season when 6-10 Nick Horvath injured his foot and has missed 21 straight games. His return is still uncertain.
Sanders was in tears after the Maryland loss.
“If my team needs me, than I’ll be there for them,” said Sanders, who picked up four fouls in four minutes Tuesday night and has averaged just eight minutes in 15 ACC games. “If that takes extra running, extra reps in practice, whatever.
“Every player on this team comes to this school to play. I know it kills certain players on the team not to be able to play. I just didn’t want it to happen like this.”
Duke led 60-51 with 15:20 left, but missed 25 of its first 31 shots of the final half, going more than eight minutes without a basket as Maryland took over.
The Terrapins, who shot 53 percent in the second half, sealed it from the foul line, making 10 of 11 in the final 1:34. ke’s second half was its worst of the season, going 9-for-37 from the field, including 3-for-19 from 3-point range.
Maryland lost four of five after the Duke loss on Jan. 27, but have rebounded to win four in a row, including over ranked teams Wake Forest, Oklahoma and the Blue Devils.