Cowley: Bridges need to be rebuilt.

[justBLAZE]

I understand Joe isn't a popular figure around here, hell I'm not his biggest fan either but this piece provides some information how big of a mess the White Sox organization is right now.

 

Amid rumors and hot-stove trade chatter, pitcher John Danks was the only one who knew where he was going to end up Monday night: At the Home Depot, looking for wood screws.

 

After all, that pile of lumber sitting in his backyard needed some help to become a shed by the weekend.

 

As for the baseball talk?

 

The laid-back White Sox lefty just laughs about it. That’s for all of us to dissect and stress about.

 

“I’m not losing an ounce of sleep over it,” Danks said in a telephone interview.

 

His first choice is to return to the South Side, even though he’s one year away from free agency.

 

But his hope is that a return also comes with more harmony. Not so much for himself, but for a handful of Sox pitchers who felt betrayed by the way pitching coach Don Cooper conducted business last season.

 

“He was in survival mode for the first five months, and then all of a sudden when he got his contract [extension], he was back to ‘good ol’ Coop,’ ’’ one pitcher said recently. “They preach to us to act a certain way in a contract year, and you have a coach who couldn’t even lead by example. That rubbed a lot of us the wrong way.

 

“He treated a lot of us differently before that.’’

 

Then there was the disintegrating relationship between Cooper and starter Jake Peavy when the veteran right-hander believed Cooper threw him under the bus in several interviews.

 

Peavy believed that Cooper downplayed his inability to bounce back from starts like he should have in late August. At one point, Cooper told MLB.com, “It’s a non-factor for me. The bottom line is Jake is on and off. .  .  . So there’s been nothing there that I see of any real substance.”

 

That wasn’t the first time Cooper and Peavy weren’t on the same page, let alone in the same book.

 

Even when Peavy arrived in 2009 and began pitching more in 2010, there was some miscommunication about his mechanics until Peavy spoke to his old pitching coaches for advice.

 

Danks is good friends with Peavy, and he’s the first pitcher to acknowledge on the record that bridges need to be rebuilt.

 

“That’s exactly right,’’ Danks said. “Things need to be fixed. I’m easygoing, I didn’t have anything with anyone, but I know Jake and Coop need to both sit down and get on the same page.

 

“There are a bunch of grown men in there. It’s a clubhouse where guys will go to the person they have a problem with and talk it out. This isn’t a girl’s high school volleyball team. The easiest way to nip all this in the bud is to sit and talk. It’s not always comfortable, but it has to happen with a few guys. It has to get squared away. It can definitely be a distraction if it’s not.’’

 

Spring training just got real interesting.

 

The good news in all of this is that first-year manager Robin Ventura has experience with players feeling a disconnect with a coach or manager. After all, Ventura survived the Terry Bevington era.

 

It also shows how dysfunctional things were allowed to get last season. It was hard to win games on the field when there was so much friction off it.

 

Danks still doesn’t know if he’ll even be around to see if the peace talks work.

 

The Sox haven’t spoken recently to Danks about a contract extension, and they have been actively shopping him from New York City to South Beach. A trade hasn’t happened yet because general manager Ken Williams is asking for the moon in return, plus prospects.

 

“More than anything, this is the business of baseball,’’ Danks said. “I don’t blame Kenny for trying to get as much as he can. I took that as him being early in the process. I took it as him throwing feelers out there.’’

 

That said, Danks is somewhat frustrated that the Sox didn’t protect his younger brother, Jordan, on the 40-man roster, nor did they seem serious about an extension for John, at least what Danks and agent Jeff Berry deemed serious.

 

“Maybe just in the baseball world I’m not thought of as a [Mark] Buehrle or a Jon Lester,’’ Danks said. “I know the wins weren’t there, but there is more that goes into getting a win than people think. For whatever reason, I’m not considered upper-echelon, but I’m not going to get caught up with what other people think about me.’’

 

Danks hopes all is well by April and the Sox can get past the distractions and back winning.

 

Then again, there are some things even wood screws can’t repair.

 

Link.

[knightni]

Part of the mess was created through the media by Cowley himself.

[Andrew]

So... Cowley writes another piece to line the cat litter box with.

 

Thanks?

 

 

[max power]

I'm not going to support Jake Peavy because he can't handle it when things that are obvious are being said about him.

Edited December 14, 2011 by MAX

[DirtySox]

So... Cowley writes another piece to line the cat litter box with.

 

Thanks?

 

This time there are actually direct quotes from Danks supporting some of these accusations though.

 

 

[Quin]

Of course they do. Otherwise Cowley has no inside source from the White Sox.

[Andrew]

This time there are actually direct quotes from Danks supporting some of these accusations though.

 

Direct quotes to who? Cowley doesn't claim Danks spoke to him...he does his usual s***.

 

"In an interview ,"

 

Guy is a hack - just filling the same seat as the last one.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Andrew

[caulfield12]

I'm willing to believe that Cooper actually acted in his own self-interest for most of this season, as did Ozzie.

 

Obviously there was the Cooper/KW side of it, and the Ozzie/Walker/Cora clique with Cox and Baines somewhere in the middle of it all.

 

The thing is...with a pitcher we have that much invested in, Cooper HAS to find a way to work with the guy. It's almost sounding like another Swisher case where Jake basically feels Cooper (and Ozzie) gave up on him and he had to go outside the organization for answers. (Too bad the same thing didn't happen with Beckham, where he perhaps trusted Walker too much because of their friendship?)

 

Yet one more piece of evidence of all the factors of dysfunction and chaos being lined up against the team's success last year. It's no surprise the season turned out to be such a disaster.

 

As far as criticizing the Sox for not protecting his brother or negotiating a long-term deal, it's a business and it's not in their long-term interest to placate Danks if they're going to trade him, but they darn sure should create a "nurturing" work environment because no doubt all of that turmoil in the coach staff rubbed off on the coaching/front office performances as well, and vice-versa.

 

Seems like John is really painting himself and the team into a tough position. Probably they would be better off trading him before Spring Training, letting Jordan go and moving on.

 

They keep Konerko, Floyd, Alexei and let Danks/Thornton/Quentin go....and perhaps deal AJ and Peavy at mid-season (and/or eat their contracts at the end of July if no suitors are available and the team's out of the race).

 

Maybe that's not going into "full rebuild," but I'm guessing some market survey guru has determined that trading Konerko and Alexei to a lesser extent would fully signal a surrender of competitiveness for at least 2 seasons.

 

 

[caulfield12]

Direct quotes to who? Cowley doesn't claim Danks spoke to him...he does his usual s***. "In an interview"....

 

 

They weren't just made up...they had to come from SOMEWHERE, and not even Cowley would be stupid enough to use direct quotes in a story if he was just characterizing or backgrounding something....summarizing the general "feeling" of an off-the-record conversation.

 

The question is if Cowley didn't interview Danks, where exactly did those quotes come from?

 

According to the article, it was a telephone interview directly between Cowley and Danks...unless Danks' agent is feeding that "interview" to selected media outlets because he wants his pitcher off the Sox and traded to another team ASAP...so he can start the process of bargaining for a long-term deal with his new organization.

Edited December 14, 2011 by caulfield12

[EvilJester99]

Cowley is a joke... he has to be one of the worst writers out there... next to Phil Rogers that is.

[Andrew]

They weren't just made up...they had to come from SOMEWHERE, and not even Cowley would be stupid enough to use direct quotes in a story if he was just characterizing or backgrounding something....summarizing the general "feeling" of an off-the-record conversation.

 

The question is if Cowley didn't interview Danks, where exactly did those quotes come from?

 

According to the article, it was a telephone interview directly between Cowley and Danks...unless Danks' agent is feeding that "interview" to selected media outlets because he wants his pitcher off the Sox and traded to another team ASAP...so he can start the process of bargaining for a long-term deal with his new organization.

 

Just calm down.

 

Yes, I'm quite sure they were "made up" and if not, most certainly "embellished". What Sox would talk to this guy? Or anyone he knows? Hell, they're probably more trained by KW in who not to talk to then they are who they SHOULD TALK TO in learning how to f***ing hit or pitch (which sucks).

Edited December 14, 2011 by Andrew

[caulfield12]

Danks has, to my knowledge, never had any sort of quotes attributed to him in such a manner...directly attacking a member of the coaching staff.

 

I don't doubt there's fire behind all that smoke.

 

And Cowley gets quotes from AJ Pierzynski all the time. And there's no way AJ would give him the "inside info" about Danks' and Peavy's feelings toward Cooper and just stick Danks' name on it.

 

 

Let me be clear. I think Cooper is a very good pitching coach.

 

But he's also quick to make "enemies" with pitchers he doesn't get along with or see eye to eye with. Daniel Hudson, for example. MacDougal/Aardsma/Sisco/Masset...all of those guys tuned Cooper out and were quickly traded OR ended up out of baseball altogether.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2011 by caulfield12

[max power]

He might be pissed off about his brother.

[Andrew]

Danks has, to my knowledge, never had any sort of quotes attributed to him in such a manner...directly attacking a member of the coaching staff.

 

I don't doubt there's fire behind all that smoke.

 

I can't remember anything like that either, but I have TONS of doubt (considering the source). When he sits down on any choice of the MLB.TV offerings, for example...

Edited December 14, 2011 by Andrew

[jenksycat]

Jenksycat: Cowley is a hack "journalist" who shouldn't have a job

[ScottyDo]

I am a big-time non-fan of Cowley's, but some of these direct quotes are not particularly spinnable...clearly, something is going on, unless Cowley is straight-up making things up which seems like a no-no even for him.

 

That said, I don't see much of it as that big a deal. Even the most condemning quote -- that Coop was in survival mode for the first few months -- is couched by the statement that Coop returned to normal right after he got his extension. So he behaved badly under the gun, oh well. He's extended now.

 

The stuff about Jake Peavy is weird...looks like Cowley's re-spinning an old non-story into a new one, but even if they're not on the same page...sounds like Peavy's problem to me. If you had to describe one person as obstinate and a bad communicator, would it be Coop or Peavy? Either way, though, I don't think Peavy went back to his old pitching coach because Coop sucks at his job; au contraire, Coop has received nothing but praise from anyone up till this article.

 

As for the Danks stuff...seems like he's not very serious about staying around here, otherwise he'd probably soften the edges of what he says, and likely not talk to Cowley at all since he's clearly embattled against the Sox front office.

 

Finally, seems like there's a good chance that Cowley is cobbling together an article which does two beneficial things for Cowley: a) it attacks a person who doesn't get much criticism, so seems unique to the people who are easily impressed and b) attacks a guy who was not totally loyal to the Guillen camp, with which Cowley is clearly married. Cowley is nothing if not vindictive, and there are piles of evidence to that effect.

[Quin]

They weren't just made up...they had to come from SOMEWHERE, and not even Cowley would be stupid enough to use direct quotes in a story if he was just characterizing or backgrounding something....summarizing the general "feeling" of an off-the-record conversation.

 

The question is if Cowley didn't interview Danks, where exactly did those quotes come from?

 

According to the article, it was a telephone interview directly between Cowley and Danks...unless Danks' agent is feeding that "interview" to selected media outlets because he wants his pitcher off the Sox and traded to another team ASAP...so he can start the process of bargaining for a long-term deal with his new organization.

 

Did Ozzie ever pitch an inning?

[caulfield12]

I do think it will be interesting to see what other current White Sox players KW is willing to trade to the Marlins to play for Guillen...

 

Never saw Danks as being in the pro-Ozzie or anti-Ozzie group...seems more like another innocent bystander who was stung by the dysunction but did his best to work around and ignore it.

[Pale Sox]

Finally, seems like there's a good chance that Cowley is cobbling together an article which does two beneficial things for Cowley: a) it attacks a person who doesn't get much criticism, so seems unique to the people who are easily impressed and b) attacks a guy who was not totally loyal to the Guillen camp, with which Cowley is clearly married. Cowley is nothing if not vindictive, and there are piles of evidence to that effect.

 

Absolutely. He's a child. I remember his whole tangent about how awful Toronto is simply because he and Bob Elliot/Richard Griffin didn't get along. It actually bothers me that a guy like him has the job he has.

 

But moving on, I'm not too worried about Coop. He's good at what he does. I believe that he was fighting for his job last season, but to me all that says is that he wants to stay here. He'd obviously catch on somewhere else pretty quickly, given his track record. That he was in such a panic to sign an extension just tells me he's in it for the long haul.

[hogan873]

The only quote from Danks about Cooper is him saying that Cooper and Peavy need to sit down and hash things out. The other quotes about how Cooper was different before his contract extension were from "one pitcher". Cowley tried (but failed) to make it look like Cooper and Danks had issues. Who was the "one pitcher" that talked about Cooper's behavior? That would be a better and more accurate story.

[Milkman delivers]

Let me make this easy. f*** Cowley. f*** Danks. f*** Danks' talentless brother. f*** Peavy.

[southsider2k5]

Joe Mariotti strikes again.

[Springfield Soxfan]

It is telling that Danks went on the record about a clubhouse matter, just another signal, after turning down two contract extensions that he is gone.

[Balta1701]

This is actually a really impressive article. If you're not paying 100% attention, you'll think that the "He was back to the same old Coop" quote is directly attributed to Danks. It takes some nimble writing to pull off a crossup like that.

[Marty34]

Cowley is up in White Sox business and he doesn't give a damn. Another solid report.