Alan Schwarz, a contributor to ESPN The Magazine, is filing regular Pulsecards from spring training. Today he uncovers a raw nerve.

Ballplayers can read.

Diamondbacks lefty Brian Anderson was sitting at a clubhouse breakfast table and perusing the newspaper when he came across yet another story about Frank Thomas' holdout. The headline: "Players should expect to honor their contracts." Anderson lost it.

"See? That's why we get such a bad rap," said Anderson, almost poking his finger through the paper in anger. "Bottom line, right there: 'Players.' It's one guy making the noise -- maybe two -- and we all get lumped in.

"If you sign the contract, play it out. If you have a bad year, you don't see the club coming to you and going, 'We have to renegotiate you down.' So why should it go the other way? You want the security, then you whine about it. It's crazy."

"This whole thing is ridiculous," Anderson told me. "Forget the money. Live up to the deal you made. Stop dragging us down with you."

Anderson then thought of players on Thomas' White Sox. Much was made about Thomas' leadership during last year's division title, but it could very well be Magglio Ordonez' team when Thomas swaggers back in the clubhouse after trading cash for conscience.

"How can you come back without guys laughing at you?" Anderson asked. "How can you go, 'Hey, I'm the guy, follow me, we're in the foxhole together?' What a joke. Sign the contract and play. Then zip it."