Cowley: Rift Exists Between Cooper, Pitching Staff
(CBS) Ozzie's gone, but the drama is not.
A rift between White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper and some of his pitchers was exposed by Sun-Times columnist and 670 The Score contributor Joe Cowley in Wednesday's newspaper.
One anonymous pitcher told Cowley the recent rift has a connection to the contract extension he received at the end of 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,''' the pitcher said in the report. "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.''
John Danks spoke freely on the record to Cowley and said some relationships need to be mended, including the one between Jake Peavy and Cooper.
"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.''
