Sentence:  [B]aseball's equivalent of John Wayne, one Dallas Green, will likely come in, take some players by the scruffs of their necks, tell them to shut up and play in a fundamentally sound way. . . . The human boom box, the relentless <WSD>straight shooter</WSD>, will keep all comers more than well aware of where he stands. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A person who is blunt, sometimes to the point of being harsh or offensive.