After Ozzie Guillen’s most recent managing job with the Miami Marlins, what team in its right mind would hire him?
As much as it pains me to say it, Guillen should never be given another opportunity by any other team. He has gone from that likeable manager who speaks his mind and can manage a team to a decent level of success, like a 2005 World Series, to a laughable figure.
Where do I start the list of things Guillen has done to make himself baseball’s biggest joke?
We’ll go back to Chicago, where he at one point actually argued a call that was made in favor of his team. Guillen wanted to make a point, but the point he made was that he isn’t necessarily the brightest.
Guillen had plenty more moronic moments this past season in charge of the Marlins.
First, he expressed his admiration for Fidel Castro. This could have been fine, but he is in the one place in the country where he can’t say something like that: Miami.
The Marlins have a new stadium and are trying to reach out to the people of the city to make it into a baseball town. With the Cuban and Latin American population in Miami, that was one of the worst things anyone could have said.
Then, there was an incident with Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, in which Guillen alleged the 19-yea- old rookie had too much pine tar on his bat.
Harper had to get a new bat, and after the game Guillen called the rookie standout “unprofessional.” He picked on the one player whom he thought he could, and in the end he looked like a wannabe bully.
What would you think if your favorite team hired Guillen as its next manager? You would probably wonder, “What the hell are they thinking?” There would be a small group that would say, “Awesome! He’s going to be so entertaining,” but no one would really take those people seriously, especially if they actually wanted their team to win.
I’ll give Guillen credit because he did win a World Series. That was only because his energy and new attitude was so vibrant and unique that the 2005 White Sox got behind it and gained momentum through him.
That team was a unique group, like the 2004 Boston Red Sox, and it might just have been “their year.”
A head coach or manager is supposed to be the face of the franchise and the leader of the team that fans root for. That person should not act how Guillen does. Nowadays, most successful coaches and managers are known for having very bright personalities.
If we look at the NFL, Mike McCarthy, Mike Tomlin, Bill Belichick and the Harbaugh brothers are considered to be the best in the league, and none of them create too many distractions for their team.
Then there’s Rex Ryan, and there are probably some players in the Jets’ locker room who really don’t like him. His antics are embarrassing to the organization sometimes, and while he has reached two AFC Championships with the Jets, his team has yet to be considered by the majority of NFL followers as a serious Super Bowl contender.
Guillen has been embarrassing to the city of Miami, or at least to those who really care about the Marlins and the organization as a whole.
There is nothing that indicates this will be any different if Guillen is given another chance as a manager. He should not be, if every team is smart. Guillen may have a bright future as an analyst, which is something I’d appreciate and watch him do. But as a baseball manager, he is unlikely to have any future.