Quote of the Day: ‘Everything in my office is going on eBay’

Ozzie Guillen, on his blunt managerial style:

When you’re honest, everything’s out there. That’s the way it is. That’s the way baseball should be. That’s why a lot of managers get fired. Because they worry about what to say, what to do, who to please.

Getting fired? That’s the last thing I worry about. Believe me, because that day will come. Sooner or later, that day will come. Because I’m not going to retire. They will have to fire me. I will find the way to get fired because I want to go home. I’m not going to resign.

But that’s what every guy does. Name me one guy. Bobby Cox, he might drop dead on the field and not have the chance to get fired. But everybody in this game, sooner or later they’re gone. That’s part of the game. If I’m going to fired, everything in my office, everything, is going on eBay, and I’m going to give that money to somebody else. I don’t want to see that stuff anymore.

Guillen is one of my favorite managers, which is really saying something because I’m a lifelong Twins fan. When the White Sox struggle--like they are right now, in third place and below .500--Guillen makes for an exceptionally easy target. He’s loud, outspoken, and sometimes just flat-out goofy, and says something just about every day that either comes across as amusing or annoying depending on how the team is doing. However, at the end of the day he’s 502-448 (.528) since taking over as manager in 2004, has a chance to finish above .500 for the fifth time in six seasons, and is just four years removed from leading the White Sox to their first World Series title since 1917. The day he gets fired (or “drops dead on the field”) is the day the White Sox probably become less successful and definitely become less interesting.