I Should Probably Address the Ozzie Thing

The Ozzie Guillen era on the South Side of Chicago is over, so since one of the first posts I ever wrote for the old Is It Sports? site was called Ozzieball 2005, I figured I should probably address the Ozzie Guillen situation...

Needless to say, it was a very interesting 8 years. The huge moment that stands out for me that will always give Ozzie a place in my heart is the 2005 World Series title, where he was the first manager to guide the Sox to the title since a guy who was named Pants Rowland. Another part that made Ozzie fun to have as a manager were his crazy tirades, which were usually 1) Fun, 2) directed toward the Cubs, which Sox fans love to hear, and 3) gave the Sox some national media attention, actually even diverting ESPN from covering only the Yankees and Red Sox for a few minutes every month. The crazy tirades didn't bother me that much. I think when a professional athlete/coach says something stupid, it doesn't really reflect that poorly on the team or the fan base, unlike a college player or coach, where you could say, "these are the kind of students and coaches that this educational institution want to be associated with?". (Yes, I'm talking about Danny Hope here)

On the downside of things, after winning the World Series in 2005, the Sox were very up and down. After an impressive season where they came up just short of the playoffs in 2006, they sucked in 2007, won the Central with a bad record in 2008, sucked in 2009, finished with a winning record after sucking for the first half of 2010, and sucked in 2011. What does this mean? I'm not really sure actually. I haven't really decided after 29 years of watching baseball and 23 years of being old enough to understand it how much difference a manager makes. For example, the White Sox had a ton of injuries in 2007 and the Indians were actually good. In 2008, the entire Central was terrible and the Sox managed to float to the top. In 2011, the Sox roster was filled with underachieving, overpaid losers that Kenny Williams randomly signed or traded for. Were the injuries in 2007 or the horrible roster moves of 2011 Ozzie's fault? Nope. Should Ozzie get credit for winning the 2008 Central title when everyone else sucked? probably not. Are the White Sox totally screwed or much better off now that they lost their World Series manager? I doubt it.

If anything, Kenny Williams should probably be fired for taking a middle of the pack in salary World Series winning team and changing it into a sub-.500 team with a bloated payroll being wasted on injury prone or completely ineffectual players (see: Alex Rios, Jake Peavy, Adam Dunn, and even though he is gone, the horrible Edwin Jackson trade). I feel like the championship made him feel like he could do no wrong over the past few years.

One possible positive outcome from this is that .260 career hitter and current hitting coach Greg Walker decided to resign today, which could actually have a positive impact considering how little help Dunn and Rios seem to be getting. That could have an even bigger impact to the Sox than the loss of a manager.

Ozzie leaving for the money is kind of crazy, especially considering that he said he can't do this forever like a doctor or a lawyer. As a manager, he could have just as long of a career as long as he wins, but I probably shouldn't be trying to rationalize anything Ozzie says. For the Marlins, it will get them some media attention that they need in the year that they are moving into a new stadium. For Ozzie, it's a shorter flight to Venezuela and there is little to no pressure to win like there is in Chicago, so it's probably a good move for him. Hell, even the Sox got 2 prospects from the Marlins out of this.

So we'll see what happens. The White Sox will still be the White Sox, a team that is usually right around .500, finishes in 2nd place, and occasionally will have a 90 win or 70 win season, and life will go on. I'm just hoping I don't need to wait too long before the next World Series manager comes along.

Ozzie Montana

In honor of his latest diatribe, in which he essentially asserted that he was going to Miami for the money, I have put together a truly horrible MS paint. Enjoy.

So long, Ozzie

I would like to warn Ozzie on his move to Florida, that he won't be able to outmanage anyone the way he was able to outmanage Ron Gardenhire all these years. (Twins had better talent, that's all)

The best show on hypothetical television

Oney Guillen is the crazy ass son of Ozzie Guillen, for those who don't know. He is renowned for his Twitter warfare with the White Sox and Chicago journalists. Tonight, however, he came up with a brilliant idea for a TV show. Ozzie Guillen and Charles Barkley. This needs to happen. Just think, one of them would be the sane one.

The annotated Ozzie Guillen rant

Here it is again, the reproduced Guillen rant (minus Chicago Tribune text, otherwise reproduced in full) with some notes from me, Ryan. There is a lot to love from this rant, and watching the Twins lose by 11 makes me really want to laugh about something.

For all those people there saying it was my fault about Jim Thome, yes it's my fault. If those people don't like that, (bleep) them. I'm not afraid. I can care less what people think. We're in second place. When Jim Thome was here, we finished third three times out of four years.(1) We went to one playoff because he hit a home run to go to the playoffs. Listen, I don't make that decision, we made that decision. It was hard for me to do this. A lot of people in Chicago talk about Jim Thome. How about J.D.? I think Jermaine Dye did more stuff for the Chicago White Sox than Jim Thome did, with all my respect to Jimbo. What's going on here? I don't get it. Why do people forget about J.D.? People don't even talk about J.D. at all. If Thome was a better player than J.D. for the White Sox, that's the answer. J.D.'s not playing for the Twins.(2) That's it. If (Nick) Punto hit that home run, I might still be crying. Or (Denard) Span. Or (manager) Ron Gardenhire. (3) Jim Thome's hit almost 600 home runs, good for him. (4) Every time we had Jim Thome here, we couldn't play him against the National League. Why won't anybody give me credit for that one? (5) We won 15 games. And Jimbo had one, two at-bats every time we played those guys. And we made this run because we played good against the National League. We got hot then. But I hope he hits another (bleeping) one today. (6) He had all three hits against lefties. Is it my fault we can't pitch against his (rear)? No. (7) Well ... I feel proud of him, to be honest with you. When I see him hit that (ball) out there all the way to the building out there at 98 (mph), I don't see that for the last three years with us. Good for him. A lot of people talk about the home run from Jim Thome. How about the eight or nine runs before that? (8) But that's OK. I'll wear it. I'll take it. (9) I'll take the heat. That's Gardenhire's fault for bringing those guys into pitch (Matt Capps and Jon Rauch). He should have left that guy in that started the game and then we're still playing. (10) I'm not running away from anybody. (11) I don't run from anybody because I sleep very well last night, I played golf this morning. (12) I didn't change anything. I rode my bike, go to sleep and as soon as I'm done with (this game) I'm going to go back to sleep. (13) Same stuff. Because I know my mind, my heart and my soul, they're very clean. (14) I have my head on my shoulders, and I think we did the right thing with what we did in spring training. If people don't like it, good. They don't like it, they don't have to watch the (bleeping) White Sox. (15) Oh and I got one more year on my contract, just make sure to tell Jerry (Reinsdorf), get it ready, this crazy (bleeping) Mexican, it's fine with me. (16) They going to blame me about one home run, I'll take the blame

1) Frankly, it's been a two team race for about the past 8 years, except when the Tigers have a pulse. Unless Thome had something to do with the rise and fall of the Detroit, I'm not sure you can pin everything on him, can you?
2) Fun fact: The rest of the league thought so highly of Jermaine Dye that he doesn't have a job. Also, Thome's career OPS in Chicago was 138, while Dye's was 121. Stats win again!
3) Well, Punto was on the DL, so that would have been really tough, and what's wrong with Span? Is it because he is a lefty too? I mean, Denard Span is pretty good. But yeah, Gardy was a terrible hitter.
4) So hold on... you are trying to say that it wasn't a big deal that Thome was sent out of town because he wasn't very good, but it's also not a big deal that he hit a home run against the Sox be cause he IS very good. I'm just trying to follow the logic of your possibly cocaine fueled rant.
5) I don't think you will get much credit for keeping an old, slow designated hitter on the bench against a league that doesn't allow a designated hitter, no. But did you leave him riding pine on home games against the NL, or did you let Buehrle bat at the Cell too?
6) No you don't
7) It is a little. You're the manager, after all.
8) The Twins had scored 5 runs before Thome's homer. Who's counting?
9) I'm sorry, what will you be wearing? And who are you taking it from?
10) Yeah, I was pretty upset about the irrational decision to pull the starter who had thrown 91 pitches in less than 5 innings and was struggling. Gosh darn it, Gardy! At least let him get to 100! Ok, I'm not really mad. I don't think many people would blame the manager for going to the bullpen if relievers gave up runs more than three innings after the starter was pulled. But sure, Ozzie, Gardy almost blew the game for the Twins.
11) Are you now accusing Gardenhire of ducking criticism for his rash maneuver? Golly, Ron, you're such a baby! Just own up to the fact that you handled the bullpen in a manner almost every other manager in the league would have!
12) Oh yeah? Where'd you go? I just went to Bluff Creek and did pretty good. That 12th hole is a killer.(Wouldn't a foursome with Ozzie be the best?)
13) You could probably use a nap, yeah.
14) It's right about here that I am pretty confident Ozzie Guillen has totally lost his sh*t
15) This is why Ozzie Guillen is NOT in marketing.
16) Ozzie Guillen is not Mexican.

I wish I had the audio...

Remember Tuesday night? Wasn't that awesome? Jim Thome hit the walk off home run against his former team. Asked about Thome's departure last year, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen became... unhinged. The Chicago Tribune had it all in a tidy little article, but I think, as my friend said, it sounds even better if you put into one long quote. It seems more like a completely deranged rant this way. Well, I am here to make people happy. Here is the completely unbroken tirade from Guillen.

" For all those people there saying it was my fault about Jim Thome, yes it's my fault. If those people don't like that, (bleep) them. I'm not afraid. I can care less what people think. We're in second place. When Jim Thome was here, we finished third three times out of four years. We went to one playoff because he hit a home run to go to the playoffs. Listen, I don't make that decision, we made that decision. It was hard for me to do this. A lot of people in Chicago talk about Jim Thome. How about J.D.? I think Jermaine Dye did more stuff for the Chicago White Sox than Jim Thome did, with all my respect to Jimbo. What's going on here? I don't get it. Why do people forget about J.D.? People don't even talk about J.D. at all. If Thome was a better player than J.D. for the White Sox, that's the answer. J.D.'s not playing for the Twins.That's it. If (Nick) Punto hit that home run, I might still be crying. Or (Denard) Span. Or (manager) Ron Gardenhire. Jim Thome's hit almost 600 home runs, good for him. Every time we had Jim Thome here, we couldn't play him against the National League. Why won't anybody give me credit for that one? We won 15 games. And Jimbo had one, two at-bats every time we played those guys. And we made this run because we played good against the National League. We got hot then. But I hope he hits another (bleeping) one today. He had all three hits against lefties. Is it my fault we can't pitch against his (rear)? No. Well ... I feel proud of him, to be honest with you. When I see him hit that (ball) out there all the way to the building out there at 98 (mph), I don't see that for the last three years with us. Good for him. A lot of people talk about the home run from Jim Thome. How about the eight or nine runs before that? But that's OK. I'll wear it. I'll take it. I'll take the heat. That's Gardenhire's fault for bringing those guys into pitch (Matt Capps and Jon Rauch). He should have left that guy in that started the game and then we're still playing. I'm not running away from anybody. I don't run from anybody because I sleep very well last night, I played golf this morning. I didn't change anything. I rode my bike, go to sleep and as soon as I'm done with (this game) I'm going to go back to sleep. Same stuff. Because I know my mind, my heart and my soul, they're very clean. I have my head on my shoulders, and I think we did the right thing with what we did in spring training. If people don't like it, good. They don't like it, they don't have to watch the (bleeping) White Sox. Oh and I got one more year on my contract, just make sure to tell Jerry (Reinsdorf), get it ready, this crazy (bleeping) Mexican, it's fine with me. They going to blame me about one home run, I'll take the blame"

That's a lot of words Ozzie. And yes, there will be more fun had with this at a later date.