It’s possible Ozzie Guillen could be managing his final homestand for the Chicago White Sox. The team begins a six-game set against the Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays Friday, and that could then be the end of his tenure in Chicago.
According to ESPN, Guillen is holding strong to a decision to come back next year only if he gets a contract extension from the organization. He is under contract for the 2012 season, but it seems he wants more of a commitment from the franchise at this point. With the White Sox failing to make the postseason again this year, maybe the men in the front office are simply thinking about steering the team in a new direction.
Guillen gave his typical sound bite to ESPN, stating, “If I come back, I come back. If not, I don’t. I don’t lose sleep with that. … We think about it, yes, because I have family and I have to see what’s going on.” While he has never been a man at a loss for words, that answer is about as elusive as could be from the enigmatic manager.
This is the eighth year Guillen has been the manager of the White Sox, but it could possibly be the second-worst season he has had with the team. That makes it a pretty inopportune time to be asking for an extension to his contract, especially with the struggles the Sox are currently having. Entering the games Friday, the White Sox have a 76-80 record that is only good enough for third place in the American League Central.
The World Series title Guillen helped bring Chicago in 2005 has become a distant memory for fans that want to see success every year. The fact that he took a 99-win team to a 72-90 record just two years after a World Series win wasn’t handled well at the time; losing out on a wide-open Central division this year hasn’t been acceptable either.
Whether Guillen is the man for this job is up to the front office of Chicago, but if he is going to start pushing buttons during a down year, the organization may decide that it is time to move on without him.
Guillen’s coy attitude about next year will at least give the sportswriters something to talk about in Chicago this postseason: It certainly won’t be about success the city is having in the playoffs.