Things seemed to be finally settling down within the Chicago White Sox organization. Manager Ozzie Guillen and GM Kenny Williams had a peacemaking Thanksgiving weekend meal together. Williams made a triumphant splash or two at the winter meetings. Ozzie made a funny holiday ad for Sox tickets. And then Oney showed up.
Or perhaps we should say he was "summoned' -- you know, like a vengeful demon. The trouble started with an mlb.com article posted yesterday afternoon in which former White Sox closer (and current Boston Red Sox reliever) Bobby Jenks expresses his disappointment about the South Siders' apparent hesitancy to tender him a reasonable contract. (The two sides are at odds about whether an offer was ever actually made.) But Jenks doesn't stop there, he blasts Guillen for repeatedly questioning the right-handed reliever's ability and saying that Bobby would have to compete for his closer's job if he returned to the Sox. Quoth Jenks:
I want to play for a manager who trusts his relievers, regardless of what's going on.
And then a few lines later in the article...
I'm looking forward to playing for a manager who knows how to run a bullpen.
Oh, boy. Here we go.
Ozzie Guillen's second eldest son, Oney, must have read the article soon after it went up because, yesterday afternoon, he began firing off 140-odd-character gunshots such as this one:
hahah memo to bobby jenks get a clue u drink to much and u have had marital problems hugeee ones and the sox stood behind u
And this one:
u cried in the managers office bc u have problems now u go and talk bad about the sox after they protected u for 7 years ungrateful
You get the idea. Oney has tweeted somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 60 statements or replies about the Jenks matter and, as of this writing, he was still going. And he offers no apologies, tweeting:
i love the white sox and i stand up for them regardless i have to protect them if they won't
What's the matter, Oney? Lonely? We don't see how you could be. After all, you're currently on a family vacation -- you told us that yourself. But, hey, sometimes we all need a little attention, and you're wildly popular Twitter account (2,600+ followers) is certainly an easy way to get it.
But you might want to check yourself, tough guy. Most Sox fans are beyond tired of your act, and plenty of them can look past Jenks' injuries and bad luck last year to realize that he was actually a pretty good pitcher. Plus, no one should forget that he remains one of the guys who brought a World Series championship to the City of Chicago not too long ago. Granted, Jenks probably should have been a little more tight-lipped about his former manager, whether his remarks are justified or not. But we don't need you to set things straight -- especially in the vicious and invasive manner that you did.
Oney Guillen's latest Twit-isode has many fans calling for Ozzie to finally, once and for all, muzzle his fleet-fingered son. Others are going as far as to call for Ozzie's firing to put an end to any Guillen family member's Sox-related relevance. Meanwhile, as of this writing, there's been no official response from the manager himself or anyone in the White Sox organization. We can't imagine, however, that either Kenny Williams or owner Jerry Reinsdorf is particularly pleased.
The good news is it's Dec. 29, and there's plenty of time for this whole ugly incident to blow over. Until, of course, the Boston Red Sox show up at U.S. Cellular Field on July 29 for a three-game series.