Stone: Ozzie Quit
(WSCR) Ozzie Guillen accomplished a lot during his tenure in Chicago: a World Series, two division titles and countless memories, but the way he left the team he managed for eight seasons raises serious questions.
"I'm not sure of the significance exactly of quitting with two days to go. He did quit," White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone told The Boers and Bernstein Show on Friday. "Make no mistake about that. He asked the White Sox to let him out of his contract. He left with two days to go. I'm not sure there was a tremendous advantage of Florida holding that press conference when they did.
"I guess the thing I don't understand, and this is something that I guess will always confuse me in this whole scenario, is that Ozzie kept talking about (how) he's not a quitter and how he loved the White Sox and Jerry (Reinsdorf) was a father to him, and all of these other things and all the loyalty he had. Then, he talked about thinking of (going to) Miami for two years in a press conference in Miami."
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Stone pointed specifically to Guillen's selfishness in putting himself before the team on numerous occasions this season
"There were certain times when there were very big games coming up, or a very big series coming up, or the start of a homestand, where Ozzie was making the whole thing about Ozzie," Stone said. "Ozzie has a tendency to make everything about him. You know that's what he was and that's what he did."
Hours before the announcement of Guillen's release, he went on a profanity-laced rant to the media about how he would not return to White Sox without a contract extension. Guillen reiterated that this was about money and nothing else.
"The one thing where I really believe he hurt himself was the soliloquy about how it was about the money and he needed to buy his wife better clothes," Stone said. "If you can't clothe your wife for $2 million, my Lord, get a new wife."
Moving forward, Stone mentioned that the recently-released Terry Francona of Boston could be a great fit for either the White Sox or the Cubs, provided the Cubs decided to make a managerial change.
"He's a great guy, he's a good manager," Stone said of Francona. "I think he had an astonishing amount of talent in Boston over many years. He got to be in the right place at the right time. I think he fits on either side of town. That being said, I still believe it's Sandy Alomar, at least from the White Sox stand point."
"I don't think you could go wrong if it was Terry Francona, if it was Dave Martinez or if it was Sandy Alomar as far the White Sox are concerned."
