Ozzie article

[greasywheels121]

Yet another article about Ozzie Guillen and the Sox in '04....

Guillen lightens things up in White Sox's clubhouse

 

Guillen lightens things up in White Sox's clubhouse

March 27, 2004

By Scott Miller

SportsLine.com Senior Writer

 

TUCSON, Ariz. -- OK, listen up, we're only going to go over this once. Anybody looking for dirt between new Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and veteran Frank Thomas, forget it. What we can safely tell you, right now, at this moment, is their relationship is like something out of ... an Air Supply song.

 

Believe it. Look, down the third-base line. Batting practice has ended for the morning. The Chicago White Sox are headed back inside for lunch before another Cactus League game. See the golf cart slowly ambling down the third-base line? Guillen, the new manager, is driving. And who's that riding shotgun, cozying up next to him? Thomas.

 

"I was really happy for him to get the opportunity," Thomas said. "He always said he was going to be manager one day. I said, 'You might.'

 

"Things worked out for him. He ran the game a lot in the mid-'90s from shortstop. He's a player first, and players like that because that makes for players' managers."

 

Thank you, and Air Supply now will be leaving the stage. You can catch them again this weekend at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

 

Now can everybody please stop obsessing over the Guillen-Thomas relationship and move on to the rest of Camp Ozzie?

 

"It's been a joy," White Sox general manager Kenny Williams said. "A pure joy to be around. And it's not just him. Every member of the coaching staff -- Harold (Baines, bench coach), Ozzie, Walk (hitting coach Greg Walker) -- they've known each other for 20 years, and they really have a passion for the organization. I don't think that can be minimalized.

 

"When I come to the ballpark, I know there is going to be some energy, some work ... there may be some feistiness player-to-player or coach-to-coach, but I know there will be some fun, too."

 

The way Ozzie yaps, are you kidding? The guy is here, there, everywhere. In the clubhouse, on the field, in the hallway, giving advice, firing off zingers, teaching, instructing.

 

While most folks watch Guillen and Thomas, they're missing the real question:

 

Is there anybody in camp who talks more than the new White Sox manager?

 

"Maybe me, but that's about it," closer Billy Koch said. "He's definitely some competition for me, but I like it. He's in the clubhouse a lot."

 

Guillen, still in his swaddling blanket as a manager, is different than any other skipper most of these guys have ever played for.

 

"Yeah, you can't shut him up," Koch said. "It's awesome. It's almost like we have a player-manager. He's always in the clubhouse. You can say whatever you want in front of him. You can curse as much as you want.

 

"You feel comfortable around him."

 

Said White Sox opening-day starter Mark Buehrle: "He's a guy who can't stay in one spot. You see him in one corner of the dugout, but if you take your eyes off of him, you look back up and he's in the other corner. It's hard to find him in the dugout.

 

"When the season starts, it probably will be different."

 

The whole player-manager thing both Thomas and Koch speak of should not be underrated -- at least, not in the White Sox's eyes. More than anything, when Williams hired Guillen, he was looking for a spark many thought was missing under former skipper Jerry Manuel.

 

"I'll tell you what, I think that's why, as talented as we were last year, we didn't bring home the prize," Williams said. "Because the Minnesota Twins, come crunch-time, were able to take a light-hearted approach, while we took a workmanlike, grind-it-out approach. It was too intense of an attitude."

 

Comparatively speaking, this spring has been like standing at the counter at Baskin-Robbins. Don't like the looks of that mint chocolate chip? Hey, check out the Fudge Brownie over there!

 

"Some players have expressed to me that with all of the laughter coming out of the coaches' office during the meetings each morning, they want to sit in and find out what's going on," Williams said, chuckling.

 

Of course, all of the laughter in the world isn't going to cover up pitching deficiencies and so far, after losing Bartolo Colon over the winter, the Sox are looking at Danny Wright and Scott Schoeneweis filling two of their starter slots. Williams says Wright has smoothed out his delivery after becoming one of Chicago's biggest disappointments last season. He also likes what he has seen out of Schoeneweis.

 

One key likely will be Jon Garland. It's about time for him, and some of the other younger pitchers such as Wright, to step up, isn't it?

 

"They should," Guillen said. "It's time to. You spend two or three years in the big leagues, let's go.

 

"With our pitching staff, nobody is counting on it, but the way they're throwing the ball in spring training, you'd be surprised."

 

One of Guillen's charms always has been his honesty. He's a no-nonsense guy who calls 'em as he sees 'em. Yes, he appears to be a players' manager, but when it's June and he begins talking about certain players who need to kick it up, that's when the line of separation between the player part and the manager part will become especially clear.

 

"He's really focused on fundamentals, but he realizes that guys have earned the right to be in the big leagues and that he doesn't have to be drill-sergeant about it," Thomas said.

 

Catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. thinks the team is adapting to Guillen's style on the field, so you envision the White Sox's nine standing at their defensive positions chattering up a racket.

 

"I'm not talking orally-wise," Alomar said, grinning. "I'm talking performance."

 

Guillen is having too much fun in his first spring to notice much of the teasing about his enthusiasm. As Williams noted, the laughter begins at the coaching staff's early morning meeting and it continues throughout the day, weaving its way around fundamental drills and batting practice like a line drive wrapping around the foul pole.

 

When Joe Nossek retired a week or so ago and the Sox promoted Baines to bench coach from his role as a special assignment instructor, the White Sox legend certainly wasn't given a free pass. At the bottom of the daily schedule posted on a bulletin board inside the White Sox's clubhouse the other day, this was listed as the quote of the day: "Baines was making easy money with us. Now he has to earn it."

 

"It's been great fun," Jose Valentin said. "A lot of work, but its different than in past years. Everything is more relaxed. We do the same work like other years, but it's more fun."

 

Said Guillen: "That's what I'm supposed to do. I came here to try and bring something different to the ballclub. The way I grew up, playing baseball, I want everybody to have fun. But if you don't play the game right, you're not going to have fun.

 

"Make sure you have a real family. You protect each other, pick each other up. That's the way you win games. I always believe talent wins games, but if you don't play the way you're supposed to play, talent is not going to take you there."

 

Williams and Guillen both say camp has gone better than expected this spring.

 

Williams thinks so because the questions the Sox had entering camp -- such as Wright and Schoeneweis -- have begun to clear themselves up.

 

Guillen thinks so because the Sox have been winning their share of Cactus League games (though they were 11-11 at week's end) and he thinks everybody is giving a good effort.

 

Certainly, the Sox are in the right division. There's nobody dominant in the AL Central, and depending on who stays healthy and who gets the breaks, it's there for the taking.

 

Can the Sox, even after losing Colon and Roberto Alomar, win the division?

 

"Hell yeah," Guillen said. "If you've got players like we have, you should win the division. Last year, everybody talks about Kansas City, but the White Sox finished second (to Minnesota), not Kansas City. Everybody makes a big deal out of (the Royals). I love it when they say the White Sox are going to finish last."

 

Well, let's not get carried away here. Detroit remains in the division.

 

"We have a different attitude," Guillen said. "We believe we're going to win."

 

And if there's any question, the rookie manager will be happy to tell you otherwise. It's enough to make a guy wonder whether the Sox have secured a sponsorship with Advil.

 

"Not yet," Koch said. "Probably more like Excedrin Migraine. I think we already have a contract with them just from me. I think we'll just renew it."

[SnB]

nice to see all the press we're getting, my optimism has risen hugely throughout the offseason. This year's going to be fun, win or lose.

[Nokona]

I love William. He tells it like it is.

[hammerhead johnson]

"We took a workmanlike, grind-it-out approach against the Twins in September. It was too intense of an attitude."

 

 

I could have sworn that KW went on and on about how we needed "grinders" for like half an hour at a press conference after the conclusion of the 2003 season.

 

Make up your mind, Kenny.