Blizzard of Ozzie
John Donovan, SI.com
Bobby Cox would just as soon have Leo Mazzone surgically removed from his side than badmouth a player -- his or anyone else's -- in public. And a player would have to be a thief, or an unrepentant criminal of some sort, for Joe Torre to leave him hanging.
So what in the [bleeping] world is Ozzie Guillen thinking?
Managers simply don't do what Guillen is doing. Good managers sure don't. Good managers, such as Cox and Torre and so many others, don't drag their guys through the swamps of public opinion. It's just not done. It's bad form.
But there was Guillen, the White Sox skipper, a week after an off-the-warmup smackdown of slugger Frank Thomas, ripping into former White Sox star Magglio Ordonez, who now plays for the Tigers.
And Guillen wasn't just ripping into Ordonez. He was ripping him.
"He's a piece of [bleep]," Guillen told reporters late last week. "He's another Venezuelan [bleep]. [Bleep] him. He thinks he's got an enemy? No, he's got a big one. He knows I can [bleep] him over in a lot of different ways. He better shut the [bleep] up and just play for the Detroit Tigers."
Now, that's some [bleep], there.
The public spat began when Ordonez accused Guillen of adversely affecting his contract negotiations with the White Sox last winter. But at this point it's not a matter of "who started it?" These kind of tirades open up a whole can of nastiness, and it's not just between Guillen and Ordonez -- who, by the way, are both from Venezuela -- or Guillen and Thomas. This is now between Guillen and every player who ever has played for him, and any player who may suit up for him any time soon.
Who can play for a guy who would ridicule you in front of the media and fans? What highly paid gazillionaire modern athlete can do his best when he's worried about what his manager might be saying behind his back? This is what got Larry Bowa into deep [bleep] in Philadelphia. This is what eats away at a manager's credibility, no matter how good an on-field wizard he might be.
When the injured and rehabilitating Thomas showed up in Chicago earlier this month, Guillen let him have it.
"It is good to have him here, because now he can see a winning attitude, because he was part of the bad attitude," Guillen said last Sunday. "Frank was a big part of the bad attitude."
Yes, Guillen's candor may seem refreshing. On some levels, it is. Getting the real, unvarnished, for-the-record story out of most managers is only slightly easier than pulling a "Good to see you!" out of Barry Bonds.
But to be an effective manager at anything -- especially in the ego-driven world of professional baseball -- you have to protect your people. You have to stroke them more often than scald them. And, if necessary, you have to water down the truth once in a while when talking to others about them.
The shame of all this is that it comes as the Sox are off to their best 19-game start (15-4) in the 100-plus years of their history. The spotlight should be on Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle, Orlando Hernandez, Joe Crede and Scott Podsednik. It shouldn't be on a loose-lipped manager and two players who, at least right now, have little to do with this team.
Guillen has fueled this feud, though, and now the Sox and everyone around them have to deal with it.
"I'm fine with that," general manager Ken Williams told the Chicago Tribune. "We knew what Ozzie was about when we hired him."
Said Guillen: "If they want me to tone it down, I'll get another job."
If Guillen keeps this [bleep] up, eventually he may not have a choice.
