Saturday, May 18, 2013

Will Ozzie Guillen Be the Next Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers?

From his infamous rants to the media to the play of his players on the field, Guillen always seems to find a way to make the headlines.

Currently out of a job, is it possible that Guillen could take over as the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers if Don Mattingly gets axed?

The Angels and Dodgers might make changes before Memorial Day, possibly even by next week if their teams don't get turned around. Either organization could give Guillen an unbelievably good chance to restore his good name after the misguided power play he made on Jerry Reinsdorf, and Guillen might be as strong a candidate — at least in the short term — as they could find.

Unhappy with his contract status at the end of the 2011 season, Guillen wanted a contract extension. However, the White Sox didn't give it to him and he asked to be released from his contract.

Guillen felt that because of the White Sox's past success, the team should reward him with more money in his contract.

While it's conceivable that it could have happened, forcing the White Sox's hand was not the smartest move in the world.

The Marlins were in a brand-new stadium and had spent a lot of money on free agents in the offseason before the start of the 2012 season.

It seemed with Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell joining the likes of Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson, the Marlins were going to compete in the division. They even traded for Carlos Lee in the middle of the season.

Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez were shipped off to Detroit on July 23, and Randy Choate and Ramirez followed two days later to Los Angeles. Soon Gaby Sanchez was gone as well, and that was just in-season.

The Marlins struggled through the rest of the year and finished with 69 wins. Not satisfied with Guillen's effort, Loria fired him after only one year in town.

Maybe it had something to do with his Fidel Castro comments early in the year. Or maybe it was just an excuse for Loria to get rid of him because of how outspoken Guillen is.

When there is a lot of money involved on a roster, owners aren't going to want to risk their high-priced stars being criticized by Guillen in the public. Consider that Clayton Kershaw still hasn't signed a new deal, and he could hold that over management's head if he's unhappy with Guillen.

It takes a special team to deal with Guillen's antics and neither the Dodgers nor the Angels, for that matter, are teams that can do that.

There are too many high-priced egos in the locker room, and Guillen's ego would leave no room for anyone to breathe in the clubhouse.

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