No “Cooler” (Adrian Gonzalez) in play. So Dodgers and Red Sox both have a chance.
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) October 22, 2018
Adrian Gonzalez, "The Cooler" ran another team into the ground and was released by the Mets -- fittingly -- after a Sunday Night Game.
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) June 11, 2018
The Cooler scheduled to return to Fenway Friday September 14 - Sunday. Hope ESPN doesn’t grab Sunday game for nighttime. Cooler hates that.
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) January 15, 2018
@Dan_Shaughnessy Now that Braves have acquired and are planning on DFAing "The Cooler", any rumblings of a Boston reunion?
— Jon Tapper (@TapperJonathan) December 16, 2017
He’s tanned, rested and ready to come back to Boston. The Cooler. The Sequel https://t.co/gSIfZJSEbz
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) December 16, 2017
LOS ANGELES — The World Series is back in Los Angeles.Does anyone think his salary would be mentioned if Gonzo was making $5 million? Yeah, me neither.
The Cooler is not.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Adrian Gonzalez is vacationing with his family in Europe as the Dodgers play in their first World Series 29 years. He went on the disabled list with a back injury Sept. 28 and has not been seen since that day. He still has a year left on a contract that pays him $21.5 million.
It’s probably a good thing for the Dodgers. Gonzalez, after all, is The Cooler. He rides shotgun with bad karma.Remember when Shank was singing his praises? Ancient history.
Red Sox fans certainly remember Gonzalez. He was the sweet-swinging middle-of-the-lineup guy who inspired Theo Epstein to trade prospect Anthony Rizzo to San Diego after the 2010 season.
In Boston, Gonzalez was the sour clubhouse contrarian who complained about Sunday night games, said it was “God’s will’’ when the Sox perpetrated the greatest choke in September history, then explained the 2011 chicken-and-beer fiasco by saying, “A man’s got to eat.’’Read the rest of the column. It's one of the decent columns he's written recently, and the only reason it's good is that he gets to take shots and otherwise write in negative terms about a former member of the Red Sox. It's the only time he seems engaged in his writing.
Welcome to the 2013 World Series. I have just one question.In no particular order, this column exhibits the following: Shank attempting to create controversy, Shank inserting himself (to a degree) into the column, Shank presuming to speak for the entire Red Sox fan base ("Sorry, St. Louis, but most of us here in Boston would rather have the Dodgers in town right now."), Shank lying once again about Carl Crawford ("We’d have asked Carl Crawford why he made up all that stuff about a “toxic” atmosphere in Boston."), waxing philosophic about Harvard, lame song lyrics, a random Larry Bird reference, and sundry others.
Where’s the hate?
We have the Red Sox and the Cardinals and one giant bowl of respect. Everybody loves everybody. The opponents are all worthy.
The Sox and Cardinals both worked out at Fenway Park Tuesday, and you could have gotten diabetes from the sugar pouring out of the clubhouses.
All You Need Is Love. Love Train. This World Series is all about Parliamentary Procedure, Marquis de Queensberry Rules, and (Dave) Roberts Rules of Order.
Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford won’t talk about Red SoxTruth in advertising - Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford won’t talk to me about Red Sox
LOS ANGELES — I am standing in the swanky, though not overly spacious, Dodgers clubhouse. It is just after 3:30 p.m. Friday and the room has just been opened to the media. No sign of Josh Beckett. No sign of Adrian Gonzalez. No sign of Carl Crawford.This should surprise none of us! Surely he didn't just figure this out?
I am not discouraged. I have emptied bigger rooms than this.
Suddenly, Crawford is at his locker. A radio guy is with him and it looks like they might be planning an interview for later. I walk toward Carl. He sees me and bolts for the door that leads to the “no media” area with the food room and trainer’s room.Shank not scoring free food; war has just been declared...
Carl is muttering something as he disappears into the safe haven. From my distance, all I made out is, “[expletive] talk to the [expletive] Boston media . . . ’’What could have ever been responsible for this change of heart, I wonder?
It’s not like we weren’t warned. Back on Wednesday in San Francisco, Boston reporters asked Red Sox PR people to approach Dodgers PR people to see if Crawford and Gonzalez would be made available before the first game in Los Angeles. Early Friday afternoon, we got word that Carl and the Cooler (Gonzalez in the last three seasons has been part of historic folds by the Padres, Red Sox, and Dodgers, hence, “the Cooler”) would not be speaking with us.The italicized part of the first sentence, to be blunt, is a lie. Shaughnessy has a well-documented three decade history of criticizing professional athletes in Boston, and in particular members of the Red Sox. I've already noted numerous instances of Shank giving Carl Crawford the business. He writes (at a minimum) five articles where he rips Crawford, not to mention anything he may have said about Crawford when he's on the radio with Gresh & Zo on 98.5 The Sports Hub, and has the balls to write something so demonstrably false? That's just further evidence that Shank does not have an editor looking at his columns.
“You can try,’’ a Dodgers PR guy told me. “But that’s what they’re telling us. Adrian was pretty firm about it.’’
...
Despite failing after signing a $142 million contract, Crawford was rarely critiqued in Boston. But he has reinvented his time in the Hub, characterizing the Boston baseball experience as “toxic,’’ and telling the LA Times, “I knew with the struggles I was having, it would never get better for me. It puts you in a kind of a depression stage. You just don’t see a way out.’’
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Thousands of miles to the west, in the middle of the desert, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez still haunt the Red Sox.What's interesting about this column is what Shank chose not to write. Shank just helped Terry Francona write a book about his tenure as manager of the Red Sox, where there was a certain level of criticism directed at Larry Lucchino, the man in charge of the management structure / the front office and, presumably, criticism of other parts of the organization to one extent or another. The tension between players and certain members of the management structure (Bobby Valentine in particular) was front page news last year. It is safe to say that Adrian Gonzalez's main point in the above paragraphs largely supports one of the themes of the Francona book, namely organizational dysfunction, which Shank not only co-wrote but had a certain level of influence on. Is there anyone out there who thinks Shank would not use this to his advantage and keep bashing Red Sox management & ownership?
Crawford and A-Gon are still crying about the blue meanies of Boston. Who knew that Josh Beckett would be the stand-up guy who takes his lumps and keeps quiet?
First we heard from Crawford in Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times. He described the Boston baseball environment as “toxic.’’
“I knew with the struggles I was having, it would never get better for me,’’ cried Crawford. “It puts you in a kind of a depression stage. You just don’t see a way out.’’
Naturally, things are better now that he’s with the Dodgers.
A day later, Gonzalez brought out the big lumber in USA Today.
“Chemistry is something you need among the ballplayers, but also with the owners, the coaches, and the front office,’’ said Gonzalez. “In Boston, we had great chemistry among the players — we were together — but that was only among the players. It wasn’t there with the rest. That’s why the team didn’t win. It needs to be an organization-wide thing.’’
“It’s hard to me to interpret what he was saying,’’ said Sox CEO Larry Lucchino. “It sounded pretty general. He could have been referring to managers, coaches, front office people. I’m not going to comment on the possibilities. I really don’t know. I have fond feelings for him and I wish him good luck where he is, so I don’t see it as an overall accusation against the franchise.’’
Right. As dumb and dysfunctional as the Sox were last year, Gonzo is a fraud. And Crawford sounds like a wimp. Please. These guys were paid tens of millions of dollars and managed only to fail. They were part of the worst September collapse in baseball history. Then they were part of the trainwreck of 2012.
