Guillen to Jenks: ‘Stay away from Oney'

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Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011
Posted 2:31 p.m.

By Brett Ballantini
CSNChicago.com

GLENDALE, Ariz.Asked about recent comments by Bobby Jenks, who claimed he was affected by feud between Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and GM Ken Williams, Guillen today attempted to take the high road and refused to play dirty in any ongoing war with his former closer.

In his most comprehensive and calmest comment, Guillen sarcastically mentioned, Too bad all the stuff about me and Kenny interrupts his career.

On Friday at Boston Red Sox camp in Ft. Myers, Fla., Jenks had told the Chicago Tribune that he was affected by the front-office controversy in recent years on the White Sox.

A lot of the stuff with Ozzie Guillen and the front office gets old, Jenks said. It has been a problem for a long time. It was a problem before last yearIts going to be nice for me to see how things are done with the Red Sox.

However, Guillen didnt hesitate to warn Jenks not to get messed up in a war of words with his son, Oney, who tweeted some clubhouse information about Jenks back in December.

Please, someone who knows Jenks, please tell him not to talk about Oney, Guillen said. Its going to be ugly. I talked to my wife about it, to make sure to tell Oney to let it go. It can end bad. Me? Thats OK. Kenny is OK with itI talked to Kenny. But Oney? Stay away from Oney. Hes not a good kid. When you go to that point with him, Oney knows a lot about a lot of things. Make sure Jenks stays away from Oney.

Oney has made a few tweets on Saturday in reference to the simmering controversy, and he appears to be taking his fathers advice:

I will not comment a single word bc to me the issue was over. Hope u know now who the problem was.

I'm not part of the problem I'm part of the solution happy Saturday.

He is lucky I'm mature and put this to rest. Apologies r accepted I told u it wasn't me.

The White Sox manager did get angrier as he spoke on Jenks, saying,Things that happened last year, I can make a book about Jenks. Not one pageI can make a book out of this kid. I feel bad and sad he thinks that way about me. I feel very sad about it. He knows I can easily kill this kid.

Guillen took particular offense at Jenks pointing fingers.

Bobby was tired of the front-office controversies? So was I, and so was Kenny, Guillen said. But I will apologize to him because we interrupted his career. Thats one of the biggest reasons we finished second: He showed up once a week to pitch.

He had a lot of problems, but we were loyal to him by playing him. I was a very bad manager because I kept him as my closer when he couldnt close. He has to look at himself in the mirror.

Guillen repeated the stance he took on Jenks in January, shaking his head over Jenkss reluctance to put his time with the White Sox to rest.

Im very sad, Guillen said. Im not even mad about it. Im very sad about the way he thinks about us. Am I going to say anything bad about him? Im not going to waste my timehes not part of my program. Its very sad because he should look at himself in the mirror, and all the things he said in the paper, to realize what he said. Like I said in January, if there was one player I ever managed, I did more stuff for him than anybody else, on the field and off the field.

He did a lot of bad things last year. We lied for him. We protected him.

Guillen added that when controversy first broke between Oney and Jenks, he asked around the clubhouse for Jenkss number, and had no luck.

We dont miss himask 30 guys out there, he said. By the way, I was asking for his number to talk to him about it, and nobody has his number. You can tell what happened.

Guillen made several references to how calm he was this season, and how tranquil his camp has been. If the Jenks comments had come in 2009 or 2010, it would have been a different story.

Thank God he was talking about me, not about the club, Guillen said. If Bobby was talking about the club, I would be on TV everywhere, because I would rip his guts.

And by way of parting words, Guillen made reference to the fact that he might have to call Boston manager Terry Francona with some words of advice regarding Jenks, and shared the same with Jenks himself.

He has to worry about Boston and what he has to do for them, the tranquil skipper said. I bet you Terry Francona wont put up with the expletive we put up with Jenks here. I have Terrys number there to call him and say, make sure you tell Bobby to worry about the Boston Red Sox, and dont worry about what happened here or whatever.
Brett Ballantini is CSNChicago.com's White Sox Insider. Follow him @CSNChi_Beatnik on Twitter for up-to-the-minute White Sox information.

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