FRIDAY, 8:00pm: Guillen clarified today that he isn't specifically seeking out or asking for a contract extension, but "he just wants to know where he stands in the eyes of the organization," tweets Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago Tribune's Mark Gonzales passes on this quote from the White Sox manager (via Twitter): "My thing is, every year, every manager, every player, they want to know what’s my stance. That’s it."
WEDNESDAY, 7:36pm: White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen told reporters this evening that he is seeking a contract extension, writes Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune.
"My mind is ready," Guillen said, while adding that he plans to sell his home in Miami and buy a house in Chicago. "I want to be here as long as I can. I want to be with the White Sox for the rest of my career, but this is a business. I like to know what they have in mind. It's nice to have an extension. You have security but meanwhile, I have another year on the contract."
The controversial manager also stressed that he is not tempted to test the waters of a potentially wide-open free agent market. Guillen's current deal is guaranteed through the 2011 season.
Please no. Appreciate the world series Ozzie, but 1 playoff appearance in the past 5 years afterward is just not acceptable. Im really sick of his small ball mentality and the fact that he’d rather use his guys that are “grinders” rather than putting the most talent on the field. Id much rather fire him now than give him a contract extension.
What instances of “putting the most talent on the field” are you referring to?
Mark Kotsay, Rob Makowiak, Darin Erstad, Dewayne Wise and 1 or more 2 guys should have never seen any kind of regular playing time. You can make the argument he didnt have anyone else to play, but they were all so bad that they should have been benched rather quickly for anyone else. Instead, Ozzie stuck with them all for FAR too long because they hustled and tried hard.
Sounds like whoever put the roster together sucks.
Ozzie convinced Kenny Williams NOT to sign Jim Thome this year so he could play Kotsay/Jones in the DH slot. Pretty big mistake.
I’d say that was KW’s fault then.
Ozzie convinced Kenny Williams NOT to sign Jim Thome this year so he could play Kotsay/Jones in the DH slot. Pretty big mistake.
3 of those 4 mentioned were due to the fact Brian Anderson couldn’t hit big league pitching.
Ironic. He made a transition to a pitcher earlier this year.
Hey, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em
Great, send him to the marlins. he doesnt put up with anything and this young underachieving team could use him as a leader. plus it may help all of our latin players. i love ozzie guillen, but maybe i dont know enough about him since he works all the way in chicago and i dont follow them everyday…but if we dont get Tony Pena or Bobby V im down….
Ozzie is a pretty good manager, and I say that as a Cubs fan with no love for the Sox in general or him in particular. In fact my reaction to him on a personal level is mostly just “shut up already, Ozzie.”
I do find three faults with him however:
1. I think he tends to stick with pitchers a little too long, both in terms of them having a bad game and a bad season. Honestly though, my watching him manage is a limited sample size so it may just be some of the games I saw and not an overall trend.
2. Jim Thome. Yeah Ozzie, I’m going there. The idea that some sort of Mark Kotsay/Andruw Jones revolving DH timeshare arrangement was a better way to start the season than Jim Thome penciled in at DH was his, and it’s hard to ignore. Worse still is how angry and defensive he gets when somebody points it out. If it were any other manager I might suggest he’s just trying to be diplomatic by not saying, essentially, “yeah, in hindsight I would rather have Thome on my team then the players I currently have” but this is Ozzie after all. An inability to recognize and admit one’s mistakes is something I see as a massive flaw. Come out and say you messed up, Ozzie, and it’s not a big deal. Cling to the notion to it was the right thing to do and you look clueless.
3. The mouth, and his inability to keep it closed. Sorry, but it has to be said. If there is a problem between you and your boss, it should not be aired at press conferences, among other things. Ozzie comes with a lot of basically non-baseball baggage and I think it is a legitimate question if he is such a good manager that dealing with it is a net positive. There’s an argument to be made that it is, but it still has to be considered.
4. Aw hell, a bonus one just for fun: How about when he substituted the wrong pitcher by touching the wrong arm on his way to the mound? Now THAT is just hilarious.
I don’t think it would be a BAD move to extend him. Is it the BEST move? I don’t know.
My beef with the Ozzie haters is that the reason they dislike him so much is his off-the-field antics and overblown press statements.That stuff shouldn’t matter, bottom line he’s a good manager.
jay mariotti disagrees.
Mariotti will have plenty of time to write about Ozzie from jail.
I’ll be following this closely because I’m interested in knowing what the going rate for under-achieving meglomaniacs is.
Ozzie wants a NL team… so let him go. I think he does a good job keeping pressure off the players, a little too good of a job. I’m sick of having so many players that appear to not care. I blame Ozzie for those mentalities.white
Ozzie, I can’t understand you most of the time you start running your mouth.
Oh! I know! I’ll buy my very own “Ozzie Guillen’s guide to speaking in the clo-house”