"I'd rather have a guy who goes out and pitches his butt off, talks some smack and backs it up than a pitcher who's mild-mannered and mediocre," says Chicago White Sox hurler David "Boomer" Wells. "But I don't cause any distractions on the team and I think that's what a lot of managers and front office [personnel] thought -- that I was a distraction." Wells' comments to Playboy.com, which referenced discord with previous clubs, came less than a week before he blasted current teammate/first baseman Frank Thomas for not playing through a strained tricep injury. "If you don't have the guts to be out there, you don't need to be here," Wells said May 4 during his weekly radio show.

Days after he slagged The Big Hurt, Wells and Thomas had already reconciled and were seen goofing around together in the clubhouse. In an attempt to end the controversy, Boomer told reporters -- a group he despises more than quaffing warm Odoul's -- that his comments were taken out of context. "If Frank is hurt, he's hurt," Wells explained. "I never said that he's not hurt and he should be out there. I said if you are hurt."

Well, The Big Hurt was hurt -- badly. Thomas underwent season-ending surgery to repair the torn tricep, and the Sox are near the cellar without their best player. For his part, Wells, 38, has pitched impressively this season, posting a 3.97 ERA through eight games, although a lack of run-support has left him with a 3-4 record.

It's a lackluster beginning to the end of a stellar career that's included two World Series rings and three consecutive years with at least 17 wins (1998-2000). Once, Wells was known more for busting his pitching hand in a barroom brawl, coating his torso with tats of his fam and pounding beers well into the a.m. His hardball fable transcended his extracurricular exploits on the afternoon of May 17, 1998 when the burly southpaw mowed down all 27 Twins he faced for the New York Yankees to record only the 15th perfect game in Major League history.

Wells places New York just ahead of Chicago on his list of favorite cities. And when New York traded Wells to the Jays after the Yankees' 1998 World Series victory, it stuck in his craw. Having idolized the Babe and the house he built ever since he was baby Boomer, the San Diego native had adopted the Big Apple as his second home, and the Yankees' faithful quickly warmed to his renegade lifestyle and outlandish soundbites.

His second stint in Toronto lasted only two seasons. The Jays traded him to the White Sox for pitcher Mike Sirotka in January, a now-infamous case of "buyer beware" -- a caveat that pertains as much to the shortchanged Jays as to any team that inherits Wells' candor.

"I probably speak my mind too much," Wells told Playboy from the bowels of Comiskey Park, "but that's something my mom taught me. God bless her. So why change?" As expected, Wells' always unfiltered discourse was in full effect when we sat down with him recently. In addition to ripping Cleveland Indians fans and Mets manager Bobby Valentine, Boomer told us he's off beer and onto vodka, and on the road with Metallica as soon as he's out of the Majors.

Playboy: Where were you when you found out about the trade from the Jays to the Sox?

David Wells: I was on my honeymoon in the Hayman Islands in Australia. I called [actor] Tom Arnold and he's like, "Yeah man, congratulations." I'm like, "Why?" And he goes, "You got traded." I'm like, "Bullshit, I didn't get traded." He goes, "No, really, you did. As a matter of fact, it's on ESPN right now."

Playboy: He said, "Congratulations?" Were you hoping to get traded?

Wells: It was in the back of my mind because I knew Toronto was trying to get rid of me. I told Toronto, "Send me to New York." I wanted to go to New York and play for the Mets -- at that time, not knowing that Chicago was even a candidate. And then they said Chicago, and I was like, "Yeah! This is great." I did want to go back to New York but I knew if I did it would have been disastrous with me and Bobby Valentine there. There's no love lost between us.

Playboy: Why?

Wells: He's a dick. [Laughs]

Playboy: Why is he a dick?

Wells: You ever watch a Met game?

Playboy: Yeah.

Wells: Who do they show always?

Playboy: Bobby Valentine.

Wells: Exactly, man. He knows where the cameras are. One day I was pitching against the Mets, and he gets thrown out and tries to come back in disguise. What a loser. Just go to the office and go have a beer and watch it on TV.

Playboy: Some call him the most hated manager in baseball.

Wells: You could see it. I know a lot of people who have played for him that just don't like him that say he's a dick.

Playboy: They did a report on him on Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, and the reporter couldn't get any players to talk on the record about him.

Wells: Well, there you go. That sums it up on him.

Playboy: So you were happy when you found out you were going to Chicago?

Wells: Yeah, it's a great place. This is probably the second-best city for me in my career as far as having fun and enjoying the city itself. I can't be happier right now. I mean it's working out. I'm in a great place, great atmosphere and I don't even look back.

Playboy: Is there any bitterness toward the Yankees?

Wells: It's been what, three years, four years since I've gone, so no. I look at it as just a business transaction.