Cowley: Don Cooper rubbed Sox wrong way — Jake Peavy in particular

...but for a handful of Sox pitchers who felt betrayed by the way pitching coach Don Cooper conducted business last season.

“He was in survival mode for the first five months, and then all of a sudden when he got his contract [extension], he was back to ‘good ol’ Coop,’ ’’ one pitcher said recently. “They preach to us to act a certain way in a contract year, and you have a coach who couldn’t even lead by example. That rubbed a lot of us the wrong way.

...“That’s exactly right,’’ Danks said. “Things need to be fixed. I’m easygoing, I didn’t have anything with anyone, but I know Jake and Coop need to both sit down and get on the same page.

“There are a bunch of grown men in there. It’s a clubhouse where guys will go to the person they have a problem with and talk it out. This isn’t a girl’s high school volleyball team. The easiest way to nip all this in the bud is to sit and talk. It’s not always comfortable, but it has to happen with a few guys. It has to get squared away. It can definitely be a distraction if it’s not.’’

...That said, Danks is somewhat frustrated that the Sox didn’t protect his younger brother, Jordan, on the 40-man roster, nor did they seem serious about an extension for John, at least what Danks and agent Jeff Berry deemed serious.

“Maybe just in the baseball world I’m not thought of as a [Mark] Buehrle or a Jon Lester,’’ Danks said. “I know the wins weren’t there, but there is more that goes into getting a win than people think. For whatever reason, I’m not considered upper-echelon, but I’m not going to get caught up with what other people think about me.”

The downer-echelon: 138-124-115-97 (ERA+ last four seasons).