I don't care about the WhiteSox... almost to the point of non-existent team in some way. But on a peripheral basis, this flap about Ozzie Guillen and Sean Tracey started to bother me for some reason. Why? I wasn't really sure.
Maybe it was the father in me that made me want to really voice my opinion on Mr. Guillen as a manager and as a person.
As a person, nothing in his character so far has impressed me. He's a personable sort, but in the case of character, he allows the personality to get in the way of such. Sure, he's juat a manager, so what's the big deal? Well, honestly, not a big deal at all. People like Guillen run thier course in terms of character pretty quickly in life. Terry Collins or Hal Lanier come to mind. Great baseball minds, questionable characters comes to mind as well. The crossover from being a manager in strategy and a manager of men is very thin and in today's major league baseball, a little of both is needed. Ozzie Guillen has, to his advantage, a lot of clout. Winning a world championship will bring that to your table, character or lack thereof not withstanding. So this particular incident will probably not be anymore important to anyone who judges character in baseball (and most people don't) than the time Guillen called out A-Rod and Garciaparra. I had this uneasy feeling that GM Ken Williams might of gotten to Guillen and asked him if he was out of his freaking mind to go after another man's character. It was ironically a questionable character move on Guillen's part. You know the drill, "that's just Guillen" or "you like folks to speak their mind honestly" and "he tells it like it is", blah, blah, blah. Whatever, Guillen apologized later for that but it was just an inkling that Ozzie may be the personality type that just might disavow character.
So now this with Tracey.
By and large, the incident is being passed off as a managerial right based on the unwritten rules of baseball in terms of taking care of your teammates. Yeah, no big deal and if seen in that light, it really isn't. If Joe Torre were to do this, I would be floored though. But if I heard Torre had a private meeting with his pitcher and talked to him about it in stern yet professional tones, I would not be surprised at all. In his book (Joe Torre's Ground Rules for Winners : 12 Keys to Managing Team Players, Tough Bosses, Setbacks, and Success), Joe Torre outlines his philosophical way to managing a team... and this in not necessarily applicable to only baseball. In fact, if you manage *people*, you would probably appreciate Torre's book. And perhaps feel really uneasy watching the dressing down from Guillen and Tracey. I admit I had a fatherly moment watching it too. Is this the way you treat *people*? What are the other 24 men thinking? Why is Perzinwhatyoumightcallit so important any way... doesn't he bring about most of the angst against him by himself? Lots of things went through my mind. Much of which was a dislike for Guillen admittedly.
Sean Tracey had a dream many a minor leaguer has, to make it to the Show. Now an egotistical, vengful, somewhat lacking character manager who won a world championship thinks it is no big deal to dress down said kid and then send him back down to the minors. I wish for Tracey a quick return to the bigs, perhaps even under Guillen if necessary. Why? Because eventually Guillen's antics will catch up to him like a Hal Lanier. One day, it won't be a minor league he'll bully. Perhaps one day, he'll get back to picking on superstars in the game. Perhaps the characer issue will rise up again. And how he continues to behave or not will do in Ozzie Guillen. Hopefully not, people change and decide being an asshole isn't the best route to managing people.
Sometimes they don't.
