As for returning to Sox, it's all up to Thomas

When Frank Thomas is ready, so are the White Sox.

That was the somewhat shocking message delivered by Sox general manager Kenny Williams on Monday. Yes, he is the same Kenny Williams who got into a well-publicized verbal battle with Thomas in the spring of 2006.

The popular line of thought is that Thomas will never be honored at U.S. Cellular Field as long as Williams is still on the job.

The Sox' GM revealed a little secret about that Monday.

"It's interesting that the assumption is we haven't reached out to him," Williams told the Daily Herald. "The fact is I reached out in March, and (chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf) - without our speaking about it with each other - reached out to his agent (Arn Tellem) two days later with essentially the same message."

While he has had some public issues with Thomas, Williams realizes the future Hall of Famer still is the White Sox' all-time leader in 12 offensive categories, including home runs (448) and RBI (1,465).

"My voice message to him was, our feelings for each other aside, if he wanted to retire as a White Sox, be it this year, next, etc.," Williams said, "I would not stand in his way, and in fact think that he deserves and our fans deserve to see him retire as a White Sox. He is the greatest hitter in Sox history, and that must be recognized.

"I never heard back from him."

Now 41, Thomas still is waiting to hear from a major-league team about a job. He reportedly is working out with hitting coach Mike Easler and will wait until the all-star break before announcing his retirement.

When Thomas does hang it up, Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said a "Big Hurt" statue is inevitable.

"I know how Frank is," said Guillen, Thomas' teammate from 1990-97. "If we try to do something for him, he might get offended, like, 'I'm not ready to quit, I still want to play.' That's why the White Sox have to be careful about what they want to do, what they say, and let Frank make the first decision.

"But regardless of what happened between Frank and ownership, to me Frank is the best player to ever wear this uniform, at least the best hitter. Frank deserves all the recognition from the White Sox he can get."