Back when the Florida Marlins visited Wrigley Field last month, Sahadev Sharma at ESPN Chicago used it to ask Logan Morrison about the persistent rumors that Ozzie Guillen will manage in Miami next season.
There was nothing particularly interesting about his response, but the way Sharma closed out the article stuck with me (emphases mine):
Morrison has made quite a name for himself with his opinionated twitter feed (@LoMoMarlins) and Guillen is no slouch himself when it comes to tweeting. Morrison joked that if Guillen were his manager, he wouldn’t have to ever speak with him face to face.
"Maybe we can just talk about strategy on twitter," Morrison said. "Just be like, ‘Who’s throwing tomorrow, Ozzie? What were you thinking on that hit and run call?’ Something like that. I don’t know if Ozzie would be down with that, but . . . He’d probably yell and tell me you’re an idiot."One thing is for sure, if Guillen were to head to Miami in the offseason, South Beach surely wouldn’t be lacking in strong personalities.
I'm not certain why I would be coming back to this blog post now. It must remind me of something, right? Well, it's not coming to mind.
Wait ... nope. Thought I had something. Maybe I'll keep writing, and I'll figure it out.
Anywhoozle, besides his candid nature, Morrison is known for his on-base percentage, and has bounced between first base and the outfield for the Fish, or the Marlins as they're more commonly known.
Fish, or. Why does that -- hold on.
Fish. Or.
Fish, or.
No -- wait.
Fish; or.
No.
Hold up.
Fish or.
Fishor.
Fisher.
SWISHER!
There's a lot of Nick Swisher in Logan Morrison, except Morrison actually says funny things, whereas Swisher is more of a clown. I don't know if Guillen could draw the distinction (he recently tweeted that he found Carlos Mencia "funnier than crab," which, by itself, is funnier than Carlos Mencia).
At any rate, Morrison was demoted to Triple-A New Orleans, which is pretty nuts. His production dipped a little after a good rookie season, but he still has the second-highest OPS on the team. Compare it to a situation like the White Sox, who have three regulars who haven't hit worth anything but have kept their jobs, and it's hard to fathom.
But apparently, it's not a matter of production. He's been at odds with the Marlins' impeccable front office for a number of reasons, detailed in this Palm Beach Post article. Basically, Morrison and the Marlins are at odds over numerous things, and Morrison doesn't keep quiet about it. But I'm going to instead focus on this quote by Jack McKeon, under whom Guillen served as a third base coach.
"Too many young guys come into the game today and think they've got it made," McKeon said. "The darlings of the media, you know. Run their mouth, instead of tending to business. Go out there and try to get better, tend to your craft. The record books are full of one- and two-year phenoms."
This sounds like something Guillen would say, doesn't it? And this certainly seems like a situation that Guillen wouldn't or couldn't resolve, because unique personalities haven't survived in the White Sox clubhouse.
Now, I'm sure you're saying, "The Marlins have a history of strange personnel disagreements that had nothing to do with Ozzie Guillen. Why do you have to bring the White Sox into this?"
Because being a part of White Sox coverage, this is apparently the thing to do. Phil Rogers is already postulating that if Morrison truly falls out with the Marlins, he could end up with the White Sox, as Morrison-Guillen was briefly discussed last season. And earlier, he raised the possibility that the Sox refused to acquire Colby Rasmus in order to keep the coast clear for Tony La Russa.
Well, let's go one step further: The Marlins are laying track to ship Morrison out of town to keep the literal coast clear of players Guillen can't handle. The Sox then could acquire Morrison, but only so Paul Konerko can be disappointed by him.
A/V Room:
Congratulations to Jim Thome, who joined the 600 Home Run Club on Monday night. And here's how nice of a guy he is -- he hit two of them in a victory over the Detroit Tigers, which means the Sox are now just 3 1/2 games out of first. A doff of the cap is due for the Gentleman Masher, and Joe Posnanski does it as well as anybody.
Speaking of the Twins and Tigers, we saw a rare intra-division trade prior to that game. Minnesota sent Delmon Young to Detroit (where his brother used to play) for a tall lefty A-ball pitcher and a player to be named later.
It makes sense for both sides. Young was probably going to be non-tendered otherwise, so the Twins were at least able to get something for him, even if it's not much. An underperforming Young is streets ahead of Magglio Ordonez, who looks like he's reached the end. Twinkie Town is happy, and so is Bless You Boys for this reason.
If you were hoping the resurgent Lillibridge would take Adam Dunn's place, well: "Guillen said he values Lillibridge even more now because of his versatility, but still as a bench player."