Watch CBS News

Spiegel: Cowley Stirs The Pot Again

By Matt Spiegel-

(CBS) Joe Cowley is upset that the circus is gone.

He would very much like you to believe that the circus is not gone. He loves the circus… the peanuts, the manager shot out of a cannon, the general manager walking on a wire… the whole thing.

The GM got off the wire, helped the manager load up the canon for one final shot down to Florida, and tried his best to take down the big top once and for all.

Joe is distraught. Joe stands in the field where the circus once stood and screams at the heavens, hoping for someone, anyone, perhaps P.T. Reinsdorf himself, to put it back up.

You see, the team is probably going to regress, definitely going to be cheaper, and is entering a dangerously public, awkward rebuilding phase.

There needs to be the circus at least! If not that, than no one will care about the subject Joe knows the best!

So he digs this story up, and stirs the pot.

Now, the point is, do you miss the circus? Do you want the circus?

Don Cooper and Jake Peavy are pissed at each other? Makes sense. Peavy is a serious underachiever who has put Coop and Kenny in an awful light, making that contract gamble look terrible, and making their continued optimism look delusional. If there's any part of Jake blaming that infamous relief appearance on anyone other than himself, that's downright shameful. He told Ozzie he was available, and begged for "one more inning" that day at least twice. Peavy was great that day, and afterwards he was so proud. Any fallout from that lies with him. He's a bulldog to a fault, as I've described him as such since he got here.

Don Cooper has a survival agenda. Joe Cowley has made that point before, and it makes sense. Well, he survived. Now he's there and he's those pitchers' boss. So deal with it. And everyone agrees that Coop, though maybe a pain in the ass, is damn good at his job.

So, you got a problem with him, pitchers? Tell him. Everyone is an adult, right? Tell him yourself, "unnamed pitcher source," and move on. Tom Brady and his offensive coordinator screamed at each other on the field last weekend, making an entire media nation stand up and say "it's just how it happens on a team…people get excited." No big deal.

Neither is this.

Listen to Matt Spiegel weekdays from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. on the McNeil & Spiegel Show on 670 The Score and 670TheScore.com.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.