clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

This week in Marlinfreude: Ozzie Guillen on the outs?

Multiple reports say the Marlins may be looking for a new manager. In the meantime, Miami sources are building a case against the current one, leak by leak.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

When Ozzie Guillen moved to Miami, the common conclusion was that any honeymoon period would be short-lived. Jerry Reinsdorf tried his best to accommodate Guillen's idiosyncrasies, while Jeffrey Loria is still searching for a manager he can tolerate. It was easy to picture Guillen's act wearing thin in short order.

Buster Olney was one guy who thought the pairing of Guillen and Loria was crazy enough to work:

Here's a foolhardy prediction: Guillen and Loria will get along fine.

If you look back at Guillen's time with the White Sox, his seemingly random explosions were aimed at players, general manager Kenny Williams, umpires, reporters -- just everybody. Except one guy.

White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Ozzie's boss. Guillen may seem a little crazy at times, but he's very smart, and the guess here is that he'll work it out with Loria, for at least a while.

On Thursday, though, Olney's sources said otherwise.

And why would that be? Well, this article by the Palm Beach Post's Joe Capozzi has some answers. In fact, if you delight in Marlinfreude, I would recommend reading it in a separate tab before continuing on down this post, lest spoilers dull the emotion. It is absolutely fascinating.

The elements that the White Sox tolerated in Chicago are all being used against him. Hell, they're even saying his profanity is unbecoming, and that was supposed to be a selling point.

There are a ton of other examples, so I'll just name three:

His honesty: "Loria was not happy when Guillen on Saturday implied that he cared more about going on vacation than whether he would be retained as manager."

Guillen also has used his contract as a way to dismiss the importance of his job security, which sounds familiar.

His loyalty to coaches: "One possible scenario has the Marlins firing bench coach Joey Cora, Guillen’s long-time confidant. Several players have complained about working with Cora, a team source said."

That one is interesting, because Guillen said earlier in the year that he would quit if the team tried to fire a coach without his consent. Cutting Cora would be the way to call Guillen's bluff, because as that preseason New Yorker profile showed, Cora does a lot of the heavy lifting.

And finally...

His family: "Among their complaints: the constant clubhouse presence of Guillen’s three adult sons."