Josh Donaldson Fires Back at Lucas Giolito, Ozzie Guillen in Wild Zoom Press Conference
By Liam McKeone
We had some baseball drama on our hands last night after White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito called Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson a "f---ing pest. "Donaldson homered off Giolito and made a comment about the recent foreign substance crackdown in baseball to his Twins teammates as he walked back to the dugout. Giolito was not pleased and said as much to the press. Donaldson apparently heard and didn't waste any time in his pregame Zoom press conference before firing back.
Donaldson said he confronted Giolito about his comments in the parking lot after the game, as men do. According to Donaldson, Giolito had far less to say to his face than to reporters, and Donaldson called the pitcher "classless."
Here is a tiny snippet of Josh Donaldson's reaction to Lucas Giolito calling his move after last night's HR classless. The two had a chat in the parking lot late last night. Link includes Donaldson's long epic response to the situation. #MNTwins #WhiteSoxhttps://t.co/xQrIOY9BeT pic.twitter.com/GM5U4DpZUc
— KSTPSports (@KSTPSports) June 30, 2021
Josh Donaldson responds to Lucas Giolito calling his comments from last night "classless" by guessing that Giolito probably wouldn't have had a problem with what he said if he hadn't been using "sticky stuff" prior to the crackdown.
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) June 30, 2021
"My intention was not to show up Lucas Giolito, but he took it that way. ... He has a problem with what he said on the field, and I have a problem with what he has to say in the Zoom room. And that's OK. We're not supposed to like each other. He's on another team."
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) June 30, 2021
After the game, former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he would throw at Donaldson tonight after what he did. Donaldson did not take kindly to that at all and mentioned it during said press conference.
Donaldson now going after Ozzie Guillén for saying he'd throw at Donaldson on the postgame show last night, pointing to Ozzie's career numbers, which he believes do not compare favorably to his.
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) June 30, 2021
"I'm just trying to make the game fair!"
He also mentioned Guillen's past comments on... former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro just to really put the cherry on top.
Donaldson continues- "You have Ozzie Guillen talking sh*t about me! You were a career under .700 OPS, man. My worst season in the big leagues is 150 points higher than that. This coming from a guy who (said good things) about Fidel Castro!! What are we doing around here?"
— ESPN White Sox (@ESPNWhiteSox) June 30, 2021
Safe to say that Donaldson did not cool off after having the day to think about what unfolded. It makes for great content for us all. Tonight's matchup between the two teams should be a barn-burner.