It seems that the genesis of his anger is that he received only one phone call, a voice-mail really, to inform him that he wouldn't be back with the Sox. -- Now you have to know Frank's relationship with the Sox to understand why even that solitary phone call was overkill. -- In 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and so on, Frank would walk out the door on October 1st and not answer a single phone call, message, media inquiry, anything, until he showed up his usual week late to spring training. He would then complain about 'not wanting to be bothered.' The fact is, if the Sox had come to him every step of the way and told him his current situation with the team, he would have found something else to spout off about. Or he would have still spouted off about the way they handled it.

Frank somehow isn't able to grasp that this isn't about his ability to hit a baseball. It's about minimizing risk, and optimizing the Sox line-up not just for 2006, but for 2007 and beyond. It's really hard to think about multiple years down the line while including a guy who has his 3rd foot injury in 3 years, weighs as much as Frank does, and has only had 345 ABs in the last two years.

My favorite comment from Frank was about Carl Everett and how Everett wasn't brought in as insurance on Frank's foot, but that Kenny had brought in "too many good players."

Now onto Kenny's response. Should he have responded like he did? Absolutely not. But that's the way we handle things on the southside. We fire back with the truth and add a little venom.

Any player who wins a World Series, thanks in large part to the foresight of a GM to acquire 'too many guys', then complains about 'too many guys,' is quite obviously thinking of only himself. Everything Williams spoke was the truth. I just wish he could have done it without resorting to name calling.

All that being said, and with Frank due to fire back at the Sox in t-minus 24 hours, I'll still be at USCF along with 38K of my closest friends on May 22nd to give Frank a huge standing ovation in his return to the southside. That is if Frank is healthy enough to step into the batter's box.