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Guillen fires back at Jenks

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It’s the Guillen family vs. Bobby Jenks, Round 2.

Right after Christmas, Jenks took some shots at White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and said he looked forward to playing for his new team, the Boston Red Sox.

Oney Guillen, Ozzie’s middle son, blasted Jenks on his Twitter account and turned the spat into a national story.

Two days ago, Jenks had similar critical thoughts about Ozzie and the White Sox in the Chicago Tribune.

“A lot of the stuff with Ozzie and the front office gets old,” Jenks said at the Red Sox’ training camp in Fort Myers, Fla. “It has been a problem for a long time. It was a problem before last year. It’s going to be nice for me to see how things are done here.”

Initially taking the high road after being asked about Jenks following Saturday’s workout at Camelback Ranch, Ozzie Guillen eventually fired back.

“First of all he can’t make any comments about last year because he was never in the clubhouse,” Guillen said. “He spent more time at his house than he did in the clubhouse. They told me about it. I didn’t read it yet. The only thing I can say is that I feel bad for him because I think the way we treated this kid, just the White Sox and myself, or our front-office people, we helped him a lot on the field and off the field.”

Guillen slowly began to seethe.

“I don’t want the aggravation again talking about his thing,” Guillen said. “But he better be careful talking about Oney because Oney knows a lot of stuff about him.

“I just talked to Oney to make sure he lets that thing go. But if Oney said everything he knows about Bobby Jenks, it wouldn’t be a pretty thing. I said (to Oney), ‘Make sure you don’t say anything because he has a family.’ I respect his wife, I respect his kid. I’m not even mad. I wish I was mad about it because I will rip (Jenks’) throat (out).”

Ozzie was just getting started on Jenks, the White Sox’ primary closer the past six seasons.

“Too bad that all the stuff we had between me and Kenny (Williams) interrupted his career because he did a lot of bad things last year,” Guillen said. “We lied for him, we protected him. I’m the first manager in the history of baseball to give a guy a week off to take care of his kids when his father-in-law was sick. It wasn’t even his wife. But it was out of respect I have for his family.

“I sent him home because he had to babysit his kids because his father-in-law was sick. I don’t think any manager is doing that. But coming from him, I expect that.”

Guillen and Jenks clearly were at odds for most of last season, and the two barely even talked after the all-star break.

“Just worry about Boston, don’t worry about the White Sox,” Guillen said. “He has to worry about Boston and what he has to do for them. And I bet you (Red Sox manager) Tito Francona won’t put up with the (bleep) we put up with here. I have Tito’s number here to call him and say make sure you tell Bobby to worry about the Boston Red Sox and don’t worry about what happened here or whatever. We don’t miss him.

“You ask 30 guys in there (clubhouse). By the way, I was asking for his phone number to talk him to about it and nobody had his phone number. None of his (ex-)teammates had his phone number. That tells you what happened. But me, that’s fine. He wasn’t talking about the ballclub, he was talking about Ozzie and Kenny. I respect that.

“Thank God he wasn’t talking about the club. If Bobby was taking about the club, ehhh, I would have been everywhere on ESPN because I will rip his guts. But he was talking about me. I can take that.

“Just be careful about what you say about Oney because Oney will say stuff he’s not supposed to be saying. That’s just a warning for him. Just stay away and don’t name Oney for this because it will be pretty ugly.”

Jenks didn’t mention Oney Guillen in the latest round of sparring.

As for his former White Sox teammates, two were asked Saturday if they had Jenks’ number.

“Nope,” said one.

“No,” said another. “But if I did, I’d call Bobby and tell him to shut up.”

This is a 2011 photo of Bobby Jenks of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. This image reflects the Boston Red Sox active roster as of Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011 when this image was taken. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)