Jerry Reinsdorf owned a baseball team
Their Sox were white as snow
And everywhere his managers went
Drama was sure to go.
It followed the players to the field every day,
And made them look like fools,
Fans said, “I can’t believe they run a baseball team
What a bunch of tools.”
I’ve never in my life been so disgusted by a GM and manager of a baseball team. I’m sure there are many instances where they don’t get along in other ball clubs but I haven’t heard more through media outlets than the drama surrounding Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen’s relationship.
Here’s the back story on the drama this year. It started out early in the season when William’s voiced his opinion that he was against Ozzie’s idea of a “DH-by-committee” (which has turned out really well, by the way….). William’s went to owner Jerry Reinsdorf who told him to sit back and let Ozzie manage because that’s what he was getting paid to do. Strike 1 against Kenny in the Guillen’s book. Later on Ozzie’s middle son Oney stepped down from the organization after William’s told him to cut back on his dramatic anti-Sox/Kenny tweeting on Twitter. Guillen snubbed Chicago media after a Spring Training game and the entire family went on an “We Hate Kenny” rant on Twitter to follow. Strike 2. After a good two weeks worth of Facebook and Twitter filled drama from the Guillen kids, things started to settle down.
Then came the amateur draft. Kenny William’s son, Kenny William’s Jr., had been drafted by the Sox the previous year in the 6th round. According to the Guillen boys, the White Sox had told Ozzie’s youngest son, Ozney, not to worry about anything when it came to the draft because they were going to take him. Ozney was slated to go within the first 10 rounds, and the Sox didn’t pick him up until the 22nd. This “favoritism” in the draft process didn’t sit well with the Guillens. Strike 3. Ozzie Guillen got upset, told Ozney that he was not going to play for the Sox and instead would attend USF in the fall, and that he would rather just hand over the $50,000 signing bonus out of pocket. A few days later reports surfaced that Kenny and Ozzie had come close to “throwing punches” this previous Tuesday.
Stop. Rewind. What is going on with this franchise? Is anyone else aware that the Sox are currently 7.5 games back behind the Twins and 6 games under .500? This team that was supposed to have the best rotation in the American League, if not the entire MLB is tanking and its only June? Actually, let’s rephrase this. I know the fans in Chicago are aware, and so is the media, and the players, but are Ozzie and Kenny? I’ve heard more out of their mouths about the drama between the two of them than I have about the way the team is playing and in my opinion, that’s embarrassing to the fans, the franchise, and the city of Chicago in general.
Fans are calling for such veteran players as Paul Konerko, AJ Pierzynski, and even Mark Buehrle to be traded or sold off and we aren’t even close to the trade deadline. They are throwing their hopes and dreams into the laps of minor leaguers and don’t even seem to realize that the farm system is in shambles as well. What are Ozzie and Kenny doing about this? Absolutely nothing.
Here’s the problem as I see it. No one here is doing their jobs. Ozzie is running the show like a cracked out puppet master who has no idea how to play with the pieces he so desperately had to have this off-season. Kenny Williams is scared to death to stick up for himself and is allowing it to happen. Jerry, in addition, seems to want to do nothing but “stay out of it,” and Kenny and Ozzie are both telling the media that there’s no reason for Jerry to get involved. Reinsdorf, who has a history of feuding managers in the organizations he runs, seems to have no problem letting Ozzie not only “manage” this team, but also run it, despite Kenny’s requests that Ozzie be fired. What’s best? The entire thing is chronicled on a day-to-day basis on Twitter. Which, by the way, is apparently at the top of the Guillen’s priority list as opposed to fixing what’s wrong with this team.
It’s time for the school-yard fights to be taken elsewhere. I’m not sure how a team can function going to the field every day with their manager and GM consistently fighting like little girls over issues that should be kept off the ball field. I don’t understand what’s so hard about running a fine-tuned organized baseball team and helping utilize the array of talent we have before us, but Williams and Guillen sure don’t seem to be able to do it.
Even Sports Illustrated came out with a blurb today about what was going on around the majors. Any idea of what they talked about when it came to the Sox? Not the 4 game winning streak they just hand, not the 2 out of 3 they took in the Cross-Town Series this weekend, not the fact that Pierzynski went 4-5 Saturday and seems to be doing his part to help turn the team around, or Alex Rios’ still stellar performance. Nope, they wrote about the Ozzie Guillen/ Kenny William’s drama. That is what is running the headlines in Chicago baseball.
I, as a fan, have had it. The White Sox are a baseball club, and they aren’t being run by the Kardashian’s (even though MLB Network will be cashing in on the drama in E! Entertainment style so the entire country can see how pathetic we run things on the Southside). Something needs to change, and it needs to start with cleaning house. Forget a fire sale of players- I’m demanding a fire sale of management. Sorry Ozzie, sorry Kenny, but you’ve got to go. I never thought the time would come when I would say that but we just simply aren’t going to win any more championships with this team being run by a bunch of circus monkey’s. It’s time for the fan’s to step up and demand more than mediocrity not only from the players, but from the management as well. After all, we are Chicago Baseball. It’s time we started acting like it.
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