Guillen responds to McCarthy's comments

[Flash Tizzle]

It's interesting how everyone enjoys busting on Ozzie but refuse to lay any blame on the players.

What about Podsednik? Or Anderson's poor offensive performance in the first half? Or Buehrle? Many have given players who underperformed their fair share of criticism.

 

If players suck Ozzie put them in a bad position. If the players do well, they did it despite Ozzie. He had abslutely nothing to do with showing confidence in them to run them out there to prove it.

 

Well, whoever generalized to that degree was wrong. Only one player really did poorly because Guillen put them in a bad position. I'd suggest Mackowia because it was obvious he wasn't capable of defending CF, yet Guillen continued to ignore this. Anderson and McCarthy may not have been given full playing time, but often their performances on the field dictated this.

[CWSGuy406]

Flash, can you post that podcast link? I'm not sure my PM to you was sent.

[Flash Tizzle]

Flash, can you post that podcast link? I'm not sure my PM to you was sent.

http://podcast.670thescore.com/wscr/252893.mp3

[fathom]

I heard both interviews on the way home. Ozzie's interview was a lot more menacing than I thought it would be. He was incredibly unprofessional in the tone he took in bashing McCarthy. On the other hand, kudos to McCarthy for taking the high road. I only hope Mariotti starts bashing Ozzie again, and Ozzie messes up and gets fired.

[shoota]

He's just being honest. No one should be upset with him for saying what he thinks when people ask him a question

 

I'm not upset with his honesty as much as I'm upset with his incorrect evaluations of the talent on the team I care about.

 

Had Guillen started McCarthy over Buehrle in the second half, the Sox make the playoffs at minimum, repeat as champions at maximum. Had Guillen started McCarthy in place of Jose Contreras when he was injured and ineffective, or had BMac switch roles with Vazquez (who was very effective the first two times through a batting order), Guillen's team would have had better chances of making the playoffs and repeating as champions.

[Texsox]

Coaches get too much credit and too much blame for what happens on the field. They don't get enough credit or blame for what they do off the field. That is two different things in my book. Setting aside Oz's on field decisions, which we could debate forever, does anyone think he handles the stuff that is 100% under his control (his mouth) well? If he was a poster here he would have been banned a couple times over. He is a terrible spokesperson for the franchise. He places his greatest fans in the position of trying to defend b.s. comments he makes.

[jaliciense1]

I do not care if a player batted .025 last season. You never say this player cost us "X" amount of games! This is so dumb. I remember him losing at least 6 games last season with his bullpen decisions. He never mentions that. I guess we could have been in the playoffs without Ozzie then! I am quickly turning on this guy with his stupid remarks. Oh and I am shooing myself if someone says its Ozzie being Ozzie. Thats unacceptable.

 

BTW congrats to Bmac for being a class act! Its nice to know he didnt step down to Ozzies level!

[shoota]

I'll never forget the look of disgust Dye had when he saw Ozzie b****ing out Garland in the dugout for not hitting a Rangers hitter.

 

Do you have any stills of Dye's reaction? I remember the discussion of that but never saw it.

[Flash Tizzle]

I do not care if a player batted .025 last season. You never say this player cost us "X" amount of games! This is so dumb. I remember him losing at least 6 games last season with his bullpen decisions. He never mentions that. I guess we could have been in the playoffs without Ozzie then! I am quickly turning on this guy with his stupid remarks. Oh and I am shooing myself if someone says its Ozzie being Ozzie. Thats unacceptable.

http://podcast.670thescore.com/wscr/253024.mp3

[shoota]

We have zero proof of this. And it's not like he could get away from playing them because they have SUCKED? That wouldn't fit though I guess. If they are good, they play. If they suck, they don't.

 

Vazquez and Garcia didn't suck last year? An injured Contreras didn't suck? Buehrle's second half didn't suck?

 

McCarthy had the ability to outpitch them all during stretches, yet Guillen didn't give him the chance.

 

 

 

Konerko, who re-upped for 5 yrs knowing full well what Ozzie is all about, showed by signing the deal he doesn't care about Ozzie's comments. Konerko knows he isn't a target for Ozzie's media rants. The key is why. He doesn't disrespect certain players because of the way those players go about their business.

 

 

Konerko signed after the 2005 Championship season. It'd be understandable if Konerko had a change of opinion of Guillen after witnessing his manager's disrespect of his players from 2006-present.

[hitlesswonder]

Coaches get too much credit and too much blame for what happens on the field. They don't get enough credit or blame for what they do off the field. That is two different things in my book. Setting aside Oz's on field decisions, which we could debate forever, does anyone think he handles the stuff that is 100% under his control (his mouth) well? If he was a poster here he would have been banned a couple times over. He is a terrible spokesperson for the franchise. He places his greatest fans in the position of trying to defend b.s. comments he makes.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. He's incredibly unprofessional. I actually think he's not a terrible manager (I thought he was pretty good till he kept playing Mack in CF and Pods at all last season). But this is just lame. Acting like a jackass just make the franchise look bad.

[shoota]

I understand your point as well and I think it just comes down to the individual. For example, my former manager where I work was also my mentor. I came to this job as a college grad who had tendancies to still go ut and party and what not. Well, after missing some days of work, my boss and mentor threw it out there that I miss work for party reasons, in one of our meetings with many higher level people. I was present at this meeting. Granted he said it in a joking matter and everyone more or less got a kick out of it. But to me, inside, I knew he had a point, and that I had things I needed to fix. I don't care one bit about the way he went about saying what I did wrong, it just motivated me to hurry and get it right. Knowing that he cares enough about me and my success to send out a little message here and there, ultimately made me feel good. Just a week ago ozzie was saying good things about Brian, and I highly doubt he doesn't want him to be successful, he just has his own way of doing things and I think we all have to respect that.

 

[winninguglyin83]

Between Ozzie and Kenny Williams, we lead the league in unnecessary comments bashing our own players -- current and ex.

 

What purpose does it serve?

[fathom]

Anyone else hear the caller on the Score earlier today who said he's a friend of McCarthy's family, and he said the real reason he was traded was.....and he got cut off by Bernstein. I wonder if he was going to repeat the rumor being discussed the other day.

[winninguglyin83]

And that rumor is ....

[Flash Tizzle]

Anyone else hear the caller on the Score earlier today who said he's a friend of McCarthy's family, and he said the real reason he was traded was.....and he got cut off by Bernstein. I wonder if he was going to repeat the rumor being discussed the other day.

I heard it too and wouldn't doubt it.

 

The Score can't be the testing ground for rumors suggested by random callers, especially being the flagship station and all.

[beck72]

Konerko signed after the 2005 Championship season. It'd be understandable if Konerko had a change of opinion of Guillen after witnessing his manager's disrespect of his players from 2006-present.

Paul had two yrs of Ozzie--more than enough to know how Ozzie can affect a team. Ozzie just didn't start talking out of his --- the last yr.

[Chisoxfn]

If information comes out concerning McCarthy's attitude, and our management's displeasure with it, it makes me wonder about future young talent on this ballclub. Will we be patient with a potential superstar if he doesn't get along with our manager, or other teammates? How would we have handled Delmon Yountg throwing a bat at an umpire?

 

I'm not willing to believe Williams traded Brandon because of his attitude alone, but you have to imagine it factored in.

I know with 100% certainty that Williams was and still is a huge fan of McCarthy.

[beck72]

End of interview

 

Admits being irresponsible but changed his habits when the Sox asked him to slow down.

He doesn't know why he and BA being friends is bad.

He thinks being traded is a baseball move, all of this is hindsight.

 

The fact that Bmac himself "admits to being irresponsible" and that the sox had to ask him to "slow down" is very important to this discussion. Sure Ozzie overreacts and talks way too much. But if BMac had the results the sox expected of him--to be a reliable bullpen arm--he would have slack cut to him. [Though, IIRC not a hint of this talk came out last yr. And I don't know a coach worth a damn who'd coddle BMac and not focus on the negative if he was having trouble being "irresponsible".] Ozzie probably got mad that BMac dissed the "old, married" players and went off on BMac. It doesn't help anything. And makes Ozzie look stupid and unprofessional. But I can see where Ozzie is coming from. And in an odd sort of way, protecting his "old" players like PK and Thome who are being responsible.

 

If Anderson was out with Bmac being "irresponsible" as well, when Ba was hitting .167, Ozzie has a legitimate beef about BA not deserving playing time. And that Ba shouldn't expect CF handed to him this yr. From the sounds of Ba himself, he admitted that he had some things he needed to change.

[Chisoxfn]

If the rumor involves Kenny and a girl that rumor is flat 100% bull.

[shoota]

Paul had two yrs of Ozzie--more than enough to know how Ozzie can affect a team. Ozzie just didn't start talking out of his --- the last yr.

 

Sure, but it'd be understandable for Konerko to have a change of opinion after Guillen's most recent negative comments about Konerko's teammates.

 

The fact that Bmac himself "admits to being irresponsible" and that the sox had to ask him to "slow down" is very important to this discussion. Sure Ozzie overreacts and talks way too much. But if BMac had the results the sox expected of him--to be a reliable bullpen arm--he would have slack cut to him. [Though, IIRC not a hint of this talk came out last yr. And I don't know a coach worth a damn who'd coddle BMac and not focus on the negative if he was having trouble being "irresponsible".] Ozzie probably got mad that BMac dissed the "old, married" players and went off on BMac. It doesn't help anything. And makes Ozzie look stupid and unprofessional. But I can see where Ozzie is coming from. And in an odd sort of way, protecting his "old" players like PK and Thome who are being responsible.

 

If Anderson was out with Bmac being "irresponsible" as well, when Ba was hitting .167, Ozzie has a legitimate beef about BA not deserving playing time. And that Ba shouldn't expect CF handed to him this yr. From the sounds of Ba himself, he admitted that he had some things he needed to change.

 

Whether or not BMac and BA were irresponsible outside of work should not have diminished their playing time. Guillen's most important job is to win, and he jeopardized his team's ability to win by punishing those two with reduced playing time.

 

If Guillen had not approved of the after-work business of BMac and BA, he should have told them to change how they spend their free time. If the two players continued to act in a way Guillen believed was irresponsible, they should have been fined. There is no excuse for Guillen to hurt the team's chances at winning and repeating as Champions.

[beck72]

If information comes out concerning McCarthy's attitude, and our management's displeasure with it, it makes me wonder about future young talent on this ballclub. Will we be patient with a potential superstar if he doesn't get along with our manager, or other teammates? How would we have handled Delmon Yountg throwing a bat at an umpire?

 

I'm not willing to believe Williams traded Brandon because of his attitude alone, but you have to imagine it factored in.

With KW and Jerry around, a guy like Young would have been dealt away, no matter how much pure talent the guy has. Kw wants guys who have the desire and intangibles to win if not the natural talent and ability.

 

There might be something to the Bmac attitude. But if Bmac was serious about 'changing his ways', KW would probably have stuck w/ him. But more than likely, the combined talents of Danks and Masset bettering what BMac alone could do over the course of their careers was the most important factor.

[Gregory Pratt]

I'm with those calling this a non-story or supporting Ozzie.

I'm not under the impression that Ozzie's bad with The Kids or anything like that.

 

If not for him, Garland might not be where he is, for one.

And it's not like he's been sabotaging the Next Great Centerfielder in Brian Anderson or anything like that.

And let's look at his feelings on Sweeney.

 

Please. Ozzie hates the kids? Right.

[beck72]

Whether or not BMac and BA were irresponsible outside of work should not have diminished their playing time. [i]Guillen's most important job is to win, and he jeopardized his team's ability to win by punishing those two with reduced playing time.[/i]

 

If Guillen had not approved of the after-work business of BMac and BA, he should have told them to change how they spend their free time. If the two players continued to act in a way Guillen believed was irresponsible, they should have been fined. There is no excuse for Guillen to hurt the team's chances at winning and repeating as Champions.

Both BA and Bmac had reduced playing time because they were very inconsistent, and downright horrible at times. Bmac could not be depended on for long stretches and had many chances to succeed. BA did better in the 2nd half. Yet hardly enough to play every game no matter the circumstance.

 

It sounds like BMac was told to stop by the sox, based on BMac's comments. Maybe it's just me, but a fine brings a lot of unwanted attention from around baseball, and could hurt the players value and careers. Trying to keep issues in house and quiet seems like a far better way to go about the "partying" issue.

 

Sorry, but blaming Ozzie for the sox not repeating because he didn't play Bmac and BA?! I'd go with guys who weren't playing well but trying and going about their business in a professional way over guys who weren't playing well and "being irresponsible". Sounds like what Ozzie did.

[Baines3]

Well, I guess Ozzie is being himself again.