Every one's favorite manager Ozzie Guillen is taking a page out of LeBron James' book by taking his talents to South Beach, but not by choice. The longtime skipper of the White Sox who spent 8 seasons at the helm on the south side of Chicago and brought the franchise its first World Series title in 88 years, was dealt to the Florida Marlins with just two games remaining on the regular season schedule. Better known for his often questionable and colorful behavior, Guillen will take over the reigns of former manager Jack McKeon who turns 81 in November and plans to retire. During his 8 year tenure with Chicago whom he also played 13 seasons for making three All-Star appearances at shortstop, Guillen finished with an overall record of 678-wins and 617-losses while winning two division titles.
Guillen's White Sox who came into the season with lofty expectations after acquiring All-Star slugger Adam Dunn via free agency, finished a disappointing 2011 campaign four games under .500 at 79-83, good enough for third in the division behind the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians. That didn't stop the Marlins from finding their man, however, as the former Manager of the Year (2005) was awarded a 4-year deal with the Fish. The signing of Guillen made public on September 28, means the Marlins will have a new skipper to go along with their new state of the art stadium that is expected to open its doors on Opening Day 2012, bidding a farewell to the current Sun Life Stadium in which they shared with the NFL's Miami Dolphins. The baseball-only facility built in the Little Havana section of Miami will seat 37,000 fans comfortably and will feature something the team's been so desperately in need of -- a retractable-roof putting an end to both rain delays and the sweltering heat.
The stadium, however, won't be the only makeover the franchise will be getting in 2012 as new uniforms are also on the list to help the team make the transition to the Miami Marlins. Although a name change isn't needed as much as the one their cross-town rival Tampa Bay Rays made several years ago in 2007 when dropping the word "Devil" in Devil Rays, the team is hoping the adjustment will lead to good fortune much like it did in Tampa. Something else the new ballpark will help do is increase the amount of revenue they'll be bringing in. Having been notorious for having little money to spend during the offseason, the team's payroll is expected to jump from $58 Million to about $80 Million with the Dolphins no longer around to bully them. Looking to turn the page on a new chapter in Marlins baseball, the organization says it has plans to make a splash right away in branding a new ball club, starting off with the free agent market.
Though the best part of all will be that the new stadium is sure to attract a new audience, something their old ballpark deprived them of given it's been at the bottom of the list for years in terms of fan attendance.
Adding another question mark to the colorful career of Ramirez, is what he did when being introduced at a press-conference. For the first time in black and white, Manny showed up with an interpreter to translate the questions he was asked into Spanish as if he didn't speak English fluently. Taking it as a joke more than anything, you would have to think it didn't sit well within the clubhouse and more specifically with his manager. But with the hot headed Ozzie Guillen on the throne, he couldn't be happier. Not to mention this very subject sounds all too familiar to Guillen who was in the news recently, speaking about the MLB and their usage of translators.As if Guillen hasn't already bitched and griped enough in the past about everything in the book, he's up to his old self again. In an pre-game interview before taking the field against the Oakland Athletics, Guillen expressed his disinterest in how the league assigns Asian born players translators and not Latinos. "I say, why do we have Japanese interpreters and we don't have a Spanish one. I always say that. Why do they have that privilege and we don't?" The Venezuelan born skipper went on to say, "Don't take this wrong, but they take advantage of us. We bring a Japanese player and they are very good and they bring all these privileges to them. We bring a Dominican kid ... go to the minor leagues, good luck. Good luck. And it's always going to be like that. It's never going to change. But that's the way it is."
I think Guillen's take on Latin players being "Taken advantage of" is wrong and poorly judged on his behalf. The reason being is obvious, as Asian players stick out like a sore thumb when it comes to the Major Leagues. Latino players on the other hand, have more of an advantage than Guillen is given credit for, granted one fourth of the players are of Latin ethnicity. Therefore there's more Latin players in the league that know English and can translate to their fellow teammates, where as Asian players take up less than 2% of Major League rosters and are a lot farther from home meaning those who understand the language are harder to come across thus resulting in the need of a translator. Whether Ramirez' latest antics were a publicity stunt or were just another episode of 'Manny being Manny', Guillen gets his wish as a Latin player was provided with a translator.
The hottest fuse in the MLB just made a Twitter account. That's right, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is the newest member of the social network, as he confirmed to the media earlier last week. The thought alone of the White Sox skipper having a Twitter account sounds like a recipe for disaster, considering Guillen has been notorious for speaking his mind along with calling out players and officials on the baseball diamond. The story has even caught the attention of White Sox GM Kenny Williams. Williams was not thrilled upon receiving word that his skipper will be interacting to others on the world wide web. However, Ozzie did mention his tweeting would be about life and not baseball. But isn't baseball his life?
"No comment ... and make sure you write that it is a no comment with a head shake from side to side," Williams said when being asked for his take by the media. Guillen responded, "Listen, I'm a grown man. "A lot of people think I do stuff without thinking or talking to people. Any information out there, I'm not stupid enough where I will say, 'We're going to make a move today.' ... That's not the idea. I'm not going to give fans the message before I give it to the media, it's never going to happen. The twitter is like what I am doing today, have fun with it. It's all personal."
Even with Williams' displeasure, Ozzie has made it clear that nothing will get in the way of his tweeting. Both Guillen and Williams have met since then and went over the subject. "I feel like I was doing something wrong," Guillen said. "People are treating me like I was a murderer or something, or steal someone's money or didn't pay my taxes. If this thing bothers the White Sox or Kenny or Jerry then we'll talk about it. I talked to Kenny about it. I said what it was. He can see what I say. If that thing offends anyone, beat it because I didn't do anything wrong."Although Guillen is yet to say something controversial via twitter, it's only a matter of time, with baseball's opening day less than a month away. About a month or two ago, I would have clowned on Ozzie for creating a twitter account as I did everyone else that had one, but given how dead my social life has been since moving to the outskirts of Henderson, I too have joined the Twitter family (hypocritical, right?). Some look at it as a way to express your emotions and sometimes vent, but this could be a perfect way to promote and plug his new reality series "The Club" which will begin airing on MLB Network in July. One thing I do give Ozzie credit for, however, is what he said considering his online family. "I won't have any followers, because I follow no man." If you 'tweet', you can follow the man himself -- OzzieGuillen, and can follow me as well -- FraserKnowsBest.
