Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Matt Thornton said recent tweets by manager Ozzie Guillen's son, Oney, about Bobby Jenks were "irritating" and take the focus off baseball.
"I'm not a big fan of the social media, personally," Thornton said on ESPN 1000's "Talking Baseball." "I don't tweet. I don't Facebook. I don't like it in sports at all. I don't think it's necessary at all. ... What happened here with Oney tweeting what he did, that's crossing a pretty big line in my personal opinion. That's something that's gotta be addressed quickly and taken care of and snuffed out real fast. Anytime you bring clubhouse stuff out in the open, I don't care what it is, it's that person's personal business and also the clubhouse's personal business. That's the first time all this stuff has really irritated me. It doesn't matter what's true and what's not true, I don't care about that. The fact that anything was said at all is ridiculous. It's definitely gotta be addressed and taken care of real quick around here."
Jenks, who signed a two-year deal with the Boston Red Sox in mid-December, expressed disappointment to MLB.com that Chicago did not to re-sign him, saying he was "looking forward to playing for a manager who knows how to run a bullpen."
Thornton was unsure if the controversy would impact Guillen's role as a confidant to his players.
"I can't live in other players' shoes," Thornton said. "I don't have any personal interaction with that kind of stuff with Ozzie. My talks with Ozzie are strictly baseball and that's it. I take care of my personal business and I work hard and keep my nose clean and just go about my business in a professional matter. That kind of stuff doesn't affect me that much. I don't know how it's going to affect guys who have that kind of relationship with Ozzie where they have to disclose personal information with him and talk about personal things. It might. You never know. .. You can't have those kind of worries."
Thornton isn't alone in condemning Guillen's tweets. White Sox general manager Kenny Williams said the comments may have compromised the integrity of the White Sox's clubhouse.
"It is an issue I trust Ozzie to manage as there are obvious peripheral issues that are in direct conflict to what we believe and could directly compromise the integrity of clubhouse privacy, privacy that is vital to a team's unity and success," Williams wrote to the Chicago Tribune via e-mail.
Thornton, likely the team's closer in 2011, said he wants the focus to remain on the diamond for a team that will be one of the favorites in the American League Central this coming season.
"... It's gotta be about baseball this year and strictly about baseball," Thornton said. "We have a great, great team. We have so much talent and so much potential. There should not be anything about anything except the team and what's going on with this team and winning baseball game. That's all that matters and we need to make sure that that's our focus the entire season. From Day 1 of spring training to hopefully the end of the World Series, our goal is to win as many baseball games as possible and not worry about any of this stupid stuff going on with he-said-she-said stuff."