Thomas Silent on White Sox

Frank Thomas didn’t say much. Then again, there wasn’t much left for him to say about his former team.

So with the Chicago White Sox in Phoenix on Monday to play the Oakland Athletics in an exhibition game, Thomas had little to say.

“I’m gonna be honest,” Thomas said. “I’ve got nothing to say about the White Sox. Frank has left the building.”

Thomas said his left foot is coming along fine and he hopes to be ready by April 1, when the Athletics play host to San Francisco in an exhibition game at Oakland.

Thomas, a two-time American League most valuable player, already wasn’t happy about the way his 16-year run ended in Chicago before sounding off in a newspaper article last month.

He criticized White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf for not calling him before the team decided to part with him, saying they treated him like a “passing-by player” and “I’ve got no respect for that.”

The White Sox bought him out for $3.5 million.

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Reliever Juan Padilla of the New York Mets is scheduled to have surgery today for a torn ligament in his right elbow and will sit out the season.

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Major League Baseball agreed to a five-year contract with the North American Sports Network to televise about 275 games live each season.

The subscription NASN, based in Dublin, Ireland, broadcasts in Britain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Iceland and the Netherlands.