Tag Archives: Ozzie Guillen

Does Ozzie Guillen still have a future in TV? Stock is down after Castro flap, dismal year

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Ozzie Guillen always seemed to have a future in TV. The Venezuelan version of Charles Barkley, Guillen landed a role with Fox Sports as a studio analyst for the 2010 World Series. He did well enough to earn a nod to sit at ESPN’s table for the 2011 Series.

But Guillen is nowhere to be found during this year’s World Series. And that might be the case for the 2013 season in regards to TV.

Guillen’s TV stock definitely has fallen in the wake of his regretful comments on Fidel Castro and then the disaster he oversaw with the Miami Marlins. There’s definitely not a positive vibe.

In the words of one TV insider: “My hunch is that Ozzie has to go to the penalty box for awhile.”

Guillen may not even be interested in a TV gig. Obviously, he is hoping somebody will offer him another managing job for 2013.

However, if the call never comes, TV might be Guillen’s best option to help rebuild some of the damage done during 2012. It would keep him visible and current with the game. The strategy seemed to work well with Terry Francona.

Will somebody give Guillen a chance? He’s outspoken, fun and knows baseball.

But Guillen is carrying some baggage now. The networks don’t like baggage.

 

 

 

 

Author Q/A: Is there method to the madness, or is Ozzie just crazy?

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I barely finished the question.

“Yes,” said Rick Morrissey quickly in reply to whether he wished his deadline was a few months later for his book, Ozzie’s School of Management?

Morrissey’s last chapter covers Ozzie Guillen’s first spring training with Florida. That was pushing things for a book due out in May.

However, no sooner did the book go to press than Guillen found himself in major trouble for incredibly stupid statements about Fidel Castro. Now that would have been a fun chapter for the book.

“Yes, I wish I could have gotten into that, but that’s life,” Morrissey said. “Frankly, with Ozzie, if the deadline was two months later, there would be something else.”

Morrissey, who covered Guillen first as a columnist for the Tribune and now with the Sun-Times, hardly was lacking in material. He uses the backdrop of Guillen’s final stormy season in Chicago to paint a portrait of a most unusual, complex and compelling man.

Morrissey attempts to explain Guillen’s approach to baseball and life. However, I found this line from him to be telling:

Sometimes there’s not a method to Guillen’s madness. Sometimes, there’s just madness.

Here’s my Q/A with Morrissey.

What does the title say about what you’re trying to accomplish in the book?

The title is a bit tongue-in-cheek. It’s like you’d see in one of those bestseller self-help books. Let’s take a crazy manager and see how he does his job. Obviously, there’s the perception that Ozzie is a wild and crazy guy. I think he is a victim of that big personality. People don’t take him seriously.

But there’s more to him. I wanted to see how he does his job.

Is Guillen crazy or is there a method to his madness?

We had several discussions where I said, ‘Ozzie, you’re doing things for effect.’ He said, ‘No, I’m not. I say what I think.’ I do think he likes the attention. He says he doesn’t. However, some of the things he does are borderline ridiculous. You don’t put yourself in that many situations to be criticized if you didn’t want attention.

You didn’t do this book in partnership with Guillen. What kind of cooperation did you get from him?

It’s interesting. He never said, ‘I don’t have time for you.’ If I thought I was bothering him, he’d say, ‘Don’t worry about it.’

Reporters always are looking for the one-on-one interview, but I soon learned he was better in a group situation. The stories were better and he was more engaged. I knew there’s no way writers could write about most of this stuff. I found I got a lot of insights into how he does things when he was talking to a group of us.

Were you surprised about Guillen’s statements about Castro?

I was surprised in the sense that he would go there. He’s a Latin guy and he’s a smart guy. He knows there are things you don’t say when you’re managing in the Cuban capital of America. I don’t think he meant to say what he said. I’m not apologizing for him, but I think it was more along the lines of ‘I can’t believe this guy still is in power.’ But that doesn’t change that he said what he said.

Do you think the harsh reaction will change him?

I thought he looked very contrite. I had never seen him shaken like that. However, I don’t think you can change him. Maybe in the short term, but not in the long term. That’s his personality.

Guillen is the king of F-bombs. You decided to use all of his language in its colorful glory. Why?

I did think about the kids who might pick up this book. But swearing is as much a part of Ozzie as breathing. I thought if I took it out, I wouldn’t be painting a complete portrait of him.

So what kind of portrait did you paint of Guillen?

That’s a good question. I think I painted a portrait of someone who is a lot more than the cartoonish depiction of him in many circles. There’s always a lot of, ‘That’s Ozzie being Ozzie.’ It is him, but there’s more.

It’s about how he handles his players. He’s a better game tactician than people give him credit for.

It’s also about someone who is very needy in terms of attention and affirmation. He wanted that (contract extension) from Jerry Reinsdorf last year, and he didn’t get it. Then he left. That sums up a lot about Ozzie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday bookshelf: Ozzie’s School of Management; Kruk teaches him art of F-word

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In Rick Morrissey’s new book, Ozzie’s School of Management, the most used word begins with F; second is a word that begins with “mother.”

The Chicago Sun-Times columnist, and my former colleague at the Chicago Tribune, chronicles the unique management style of Ozzie Guillen. The book focuses on Guillen’s tumultuous final season in Chicago and lays the foundation for his first year in Miami. It foreshadows the eventual controversy that erupted following Guillen’s comments about Fidel Castro.

It’s a fascinating read, and I’m going to have more on the book in a future interview with Morrissey. Last Sunday, the Sun-Times ran an excerpt. It details how John Kruk taught Guillen the art of swearing when both were young players in the San Diego farm system. At the time, Guillen, a native of Venezuela, knew little English. Thanks to Kruk, two words soon became prominent in his vocabulary.

Here are some of the excerpts of the excerpt.

Kruk would like to formally apologize. ‘‘I take 100 percent responsibility,’’ he said, chuckling. Few people in major-league baseball drop more F-bombs than Ozzie Guillen, and none do it with his dexterity. He might have learned the word during rookie ball in 1981, but he learned all of its combinations, tenses, applications and nuances from Kruk, who was his teammate for three years in the minors, starting in Reno, Nevada, in 1982.

‘‘He learned how to use it in a lot of different ways — a verb, an adverb, a noun, a pronoun,’’ Kruk said. ‘‘It was free-flowing. I apologize to people for that part of Ozzie’s life. I feel like it is my fault.’’

So, yes, we have discovered the person who taught Guillen the many uses of the word f—. It’s like finding out who first put a paintbrush  in Michelangelo’s hand.

‘‘He taught me all the wrong things,’’ Guillen said, smiling.

Later, Kruk said.

‘‘A lot of Latin players, when they come over here, they’re intimidated by the language and the culture,’’ he said. ‘‘Ozzie embraced it. He wanted to learn. He was eager to learn. He was asking questions — believe me — nonstop.

‘‘I have two young children now. The ‘Why, why, why’ and the ‘Why, Daddy?’ — that was Ozzie to me. ‘Why Krukie? Why this, Krukie? Why that, Krukie? What happened here, Krukie? Tell me this, Krukie.’ I was like, ‘Oh, God.’ It’s like what you do with your kids. You give them some candy, and maybe they’ll be happy for a little while. But I didn’t have any candy to give Ozzie.”