Beckham's rehab stint stalls because of soreness

CHICAGO -- Gordon Beckham's Minor League rehab stint will be shut down until Wednesday after he experienced soreness in his surgically repaired left hand, where doctors removed a fractured hamate bone.

This action is not being viewed as a true setback for the second baseman, but will delay his return. Beckham did not get any sort of shot in the sore area, but he did have his medication changed

"Initially, when you have this type of surgery, the general timeline is at least six weeks from the surgical date, which is next Tuesday," said White Sox general manager Rick Hahn "There was some scuttlebutt that he could be back as soon as this weekend, but that would have been ahead of schedule.

"So we are still kind of on that original time frame. His hand and the ligaments have to heal and get used to their new configuration in there without the specific hamate bone. [White Sox head athletic trainer] Herm [Schneider] and our doctors spoke with the operating surgeon last night, and this morning came up with this treatment plan for the next couple of days. It's something that happens. It's nothing to be alarmed about."

Beckham is 7-for-22 over five games played for Triple-A Charlotte, including a couple of starts at shortstop. He played second and finished 1-for-4 against Rochester on Thursday, actually texting Hahn before the game to let the general manager know he was getting close to a big league return.

Hahn talked to Beckham after the game, and Beckham had a slightly less positive message at that point.

"He said, 'You know, the pain is still there. It's not going away. Is there a way we can try to knock this out?'" Hahn said. "Herm and I spoke, and they spoke to the surgeon and came up with this new protocol. It's probably just fairly regular ramp-up soreness that we've decided to take a slightly conservative route with."

"It's not anything that's damaging or anything like that," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura. "He's still feeling something in there. When you take that bone out, stuff can move around as far as nerves and stuff like that. That's more of it than anything."