December 10, 2004
BY GREG COUCH Staff Reporter
Magglio Ordonez, the quietest White Sox player, is no longer a member of the Sox.
And he is no longer quiet.
Calling himself frustrated by his treatment from the Sox, Ordonez took offense to what he saw as a parting shot from the team in Thursday's Sun-Times. General manager Ken Williams said Ordonez's camp had given "inaccurate'' information regarding details of the right fielder's mysterious knee surgery and treatment in Austria.
Unhappy with being painted as the bad guy, Ordonez twice called the Sox "liars'' Thursday and suggested they never had any interest in re-signing him in the first place.
"They always say they want to win, they want to win,'' Ordonez said. "They don't care about winning. They only care about making money.
"I don't know why they want to pull this campaign against me in the newspapers. The only thing I ever did in Chicago was play hard, do my job and be quiet.''
It is an ugly departure for one of Chicago's superstar athletes. And Ordonez painted an ugly picture of the way the Sox do business.
'Pay me now, and I'll sign now'
Ordonez said he felt the Sox badmouthed him in the papers during his final season, making his knee injury appear worse than it was to drive down his value. He said he wanted to stay with the Sox but received only one offer of a contract extension, last spring.
"And it was good money, but it was all deferred,'' he said. "Up to 20 years. I said, 'No; pay me now, and I'll sign now.' They didn't want to do that.''
Ordonez said he hadn't had contact with the Sox in months, since he called Williams to complain about comments suggesting that Ordonez likely wouldn't be able to play next season because of the injury. Ordonez said that wasn't true and that Williams knew it.
Ordonez thanked Sox fans for being so good to him for so long and said, "I guess I'm going to have to sell my house in Chicago now.''
Not necessarily. Asked about the possibility of signing with the Cubs, he said with a laugh: "That would be nice. Really, really nice.''
No further comments from GM
Williams chose not to speak about Ordonez on Thursday, letting his comments from earlier in the week stand.
"Everyone close to the organization never thought of it ending in this fashion,'' Williams said Wednesday of the decision not to offer arbitration to Ordonez. "We thought we would sign him when we engaged in contract talks during the season. It's disturbing that some info out of their camp is inaccurate.
"I'm more concerned with making sure Magglio Ordonez's legacy is intact and the feeling that he will always be a welcome part of the Sox family than I am in trying to defend ourselves. I'm comfortable we have all the information and truth on our side.''
The Sox said they never received medical reports on Ordonez's knee, making it impossible to offer around $14 million a year for a player who might not play.
"They say they never had my medical reports; that's a lie,'' Ordonez said. "I sent the medical report right away from Austria. I had it translated and everything into English. They just don't want to pay.''
Ordonez's agent, Scott Boras, said earlier this week that "it is important to note, No. 1, the name of the surgeon [in Austria] was given to Magglio from the staff of the White Sox.'' Williams denied that in Thursday's paper.
But Boras provided an e-mail from Sox podiatrist Lowell Scott Weil to Ordonez talking about the specialist in Austria.
"Dr. Schaden would be happy to hear from you, and he says he would really like to see your MRI,'' Weil wrote. "You could take some digital pictures and e-mail them to him. If he thinks that he can help you, he will discuss this with you personally and tell you what his experience has been with similar cases.''
Asked about the e-mail, Weil said he was acting as an intermediary and that Ordonez had asked him not to talk about his treatment, so Weil said he never told the Sox. In other words, Williams might have been out of the loop.
"He was going out of the system,'' Weil said. "If he said, 'Don't say anything,' I wasn't going to say anything. I've worked in sports for a long time. ... with the Bears for 25 years. The person comes first. If a guy says, 'Don't say anything,' I'm not going to [sox chairman Jerry] Reinsdorf to say this or that.''
Weil is the medical director of a private foot and ankle institute in Des Plaines. He said he was working with Ordonez at the request of Frank Thomas. Ordonez had confided in Thomas, Weil said, that he was afraid his knee injury might be career-threatening.
Not happy to leave Chicago
Weil confirmed that while in Austria, Ordonez underwent surgery for a second meniscus tear and two procedures to treat bone-marrow edema. The first procedure was an injection of a medication approved in the U.S. only to treat blood pressure. The second was a shockwave treatment of intense sound waves.
Weil said he spoke to Ordonez two weeks ago, and at the time he was undergoing rehabilitation. Ordonez said he will be ready by Opening Day but isn't ready now. He can run, he said, but isn't ready to jump. He wants to take things slowly.
"I'm not happy I have to leave Chicago,'' he said. "I appreciate everything the fans did for me. They supported me. I was hoping the White Sox would offer me arbitration, but they never called.''
Contributing: Doug Padilla
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