Miami Marlins Coach Ozzie Guillen Addresses 5-Game Suspension for Pro-Castro Comments

If this is what he said...I don't know how I feel about a suspension.

 

Substitute Momamar Ghadaffi for Fidel Castro and tell me how you feel about a suspension.

 

Ozzie Guillen is a loud mouthed incompetent drunk.

Guillen’s routine

No matter what city the Marlins were playing in, former manager Jack McKeon never missed morning Mass. Guillen, on the other hand, said he likes to spend his free time after games at hotel bars.

“What I do when I go anywhere [is] stay in the hotel bar, get drunk and go to sleep,” Guillen said. “I get drunk because I’m happy we won or get drunk because I’m very sad and disturbed because we lose.”

Guillen said sticking to that routine keeps him out of trouble because he never strays from the hotel when he’s not at the ballpark.

“I never get in trouble,” Guillen said. “I’m never going to leave the hotel. Nobody can tell my wife and say we saw Ozzie in this bar or this place.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/06/2735756/miami-marlins-sanchez-seeking.html#storylink=cpy

 

I still don't feel any different.

If all he said was he loved him and respected him...do I like it? No. Do I think it was a stupid comment? Yes. Does he have the right to freedom of speech? Yes.

I think had he expanded out that significantly, then yeah...maybe I'd be more okay with his suspension.

And yes...whoever said he was a drunk is probably right.

But what's done is done. He won't learn from it, but at least he kept his job.


let me ask you this: Is what he said worse than what Bobby Petrino just did who lost his job?

 

Loud mouthed? Yes.

A drunk? Probably.

Incompetent? Incompetent at what? At being a manager? How does an incompetent manager win the World Series?

Ozzie said something stupid, but I don't think he should have been suspended for it.

 

It's more than making a stupid statement. Can any of us make a public statement that grossly offends 50% plus of our customers and still keep our job? I really doubt. I know I couldn't. He's lucky that he received only a 5 game suspension.

Of course, I thought that the Marlins were nuts for hiring him in the 1st place -- he's a loose cannon. The Marlins have really fallen since Jack was their manager -- class guy.

 

This is basically how I feel.

 

I suppose it depends on your profession. His job is to win games. That's basically it. He's on a professional, not an amature level, so what he says (to a certain extent) is irrelevant.

 

Yes, his job is to win games. But he is also the face of the Marlins organization -- which is located in a city that is significantly Cuban-American. These individuals lost everything -- their homes, their families, their "lives" due to the communist regime of Fidel Castro. So what he says is very relevant.

 

Apparently not, because he still has his job.

Bobby Petrino had something to say (not near as controversial, will you), and he lost his job.

 

Freedom of speech is a constitutional right which means that the government cannot prevent you from saying whatever you like. Private business entities can make rules regarding speech.

No it's not. In fact, I think Ozzie Guillen should have been fined $10,000 and that would be the end of it. I guess that means I don't have a handle on the Cuban-American culture of South Florida.

 

Managers don't win World Series. The players do. I'm sure you know this. Go back and look at the 2005 World Series. How do you 'manage' a player into hitting a game winning home run (happened twice)?

I'm in Minnesota. I'm a rabid baseball fan. I coach youth baseball. My favorite team is the Minnesota Twins, meaning I've seen several dozen games involving Ozzie Guillen's managerial skills. He is terrible.

Me neither.

 

What would it be like if the communist state took over your business (no questions asked) and then when you left the country, they took over your home (again, no compensation)? They also killed and imprisoned your relatives and friends who stood up against the regime. Even if they lived through the revolution, you never have the opportunity to see your friends, mother, father, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. ever again.

For me, it's not difficult to see the reaction of Cuban-Americans to Guillen's statement that he "loved and respected Fidel Castro."

 

Do you think the 5 game suspension was too harsh, too lenient, or about right?

 

Wow. Just...wow.

Players don't win world series alone. If the was the case, the Yankees would have even more than they do.

I'm a die hard reds fan. Image aside, I'd trade Dusty Baker for Guillen in a heartbeat. But at least we agree he shouldn't have been suspended.

 

Even Hitler had people who loved him. They not allowed to say it?

 

The biggest influence on a game a manager can have is filling out the lineup card and making astute pitching changes. These are player related maneuvers. Far less influence are in-game strategies like hit and runs, deciding when to steal, defensive alignments, intentional walks, etc.

I'll say this--managers can lose games for a team far more often than they can win games.

Here's a question for you--who won the last game of the season for the Rays between the Rays and the Yankees? The manager or the players? If you remember, the Yankees were up 7-0 going into the eighth inning. The situation came down to this: Yankees 7, Rays 6, bottom of the ninth, 2 outs. Manager Joe Maddon decided to pinch hit Dan Johnson for hitter Sam Fuld. Dan Johnson was batting .119 on the year and hadn't even had a hit since April. The count goes full and Johnson hits a game tying HR. Later Evan Longoria would hit a game winning HR in the bottom of the 12th.

 

I've seen Dusty Baker single handedly blow a lot of games for the Reds over the last few years to know that a good manager can make the right decisions to win them.

Why did that guy hit two game winning home runs? Because the manager helped put the team in that position.

As far as your question below...why on earth would the manager pinch hit a .119 batter if he didn't feel that situation would produce at least a hit? Did he think the guy would hit a home run? Probably not.

But I'd also say (as you are suggesting that a manager can lose a game far more than one can win it)...that the Yankees blowing a 7-0 lead is as much on them as it is on the Rays coming from behind.

And we're just talking baseball. Last year's NBA finals ring a bell? The big three can't beat an aging team like Dallas? There is a reason teams that Nick Saban coaches keep winning National Titles. Why Coach K and Duke have 4 in the last 21 years. Sure they get great players, but there is something to be said for the guy who can coach greatness. Tennessee sure wasn't the best team in the country (IMO) in 1998, but Fulmer got them a national championship anyways.