Outspoken Ozzie

Every now and then, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen drops a figurative bomb, with serious allegations, but one that may also contain some important information, that might need to be investigated, or perhaps you may conclude that the sometimes controversial skipper,has spoken out of turn, and is misinformed. It definitely seems in this situation, that there is a serious lack of communication between Guillen and Major League Baseball.

The outspoken native of Venezuela, is outraged that Asian players are given privileges that Latino players are got granted, from his point of view. He also claims that he is the only one, who is trying to steer young Spanish speaking athletes, to avoid performance- enhancing drugs, as highlighted in the ESPN.com story.

“ ….why do we have Japanese interpreters and we don’t have a Spanish one. I always say that. Why do they have that privilege and we don’t? Don’t take this wrong, but they take advantage of us. We bring a Dominican kid…..go to the minor leagues. Good luck. And it’s always going to be like that. It’s never going to change.”

Guillen has a son, Oney, who plays Class ‘A’ ball, and claims that a Korean prospect has a translator, who “made more money than the players.” The Sox manager added that “ we had 17 Latinos and you know who the interpreter was? Oney. Why is that? Because we have Latino coaches? Why? I don’t have the answer. We’re in the United States, we don’t have to bring any coaches that speak Spanish to help anybody. You choose to come to this country and you better speak English.”

Guillen didn’t pull any punches on the subject of performance enhancing drugs, as it pertains to Latino baseball players. “It’s somebody behind the scenes making money out of those kids and telling them to take something they’re not supposed to. If you tell me, you take this ……you’re going to be Vladimir Guerrero, you’re going to be Miguel Cabrera……I’ll do it.Because I have seven brothers that sleep in the same room. I have to take care of my mother and dad…..Out of this, I’m going to make money to make them better.”

Both Major League Baseball and the Chicago White Sox responded to Guillen’s statements, and disagreed with him.

MLB spokesman Rich Levin said: “We spend more time and effort educating our Latin players about PED use than we do our domestic players in the United States. We test extensively in the Dominican and Venezuelan leagues, and we’ve increased the testing every year.”

The White Sox response was similar: “ The White Sox do not agree with the assumptions Ozzie made in his comments yesterday…….Major League Baseball and the White Sox provide a number of programs to help our foreign players with acculturation, including English language classes and Spanish language presentations related to the risks of and testing for performance enhancing drugs. The team also has Spanish-speaking staff assigned to serve as liaisons for our Latin American players.

As detailed by ESPNChicago.com, the Sox concluded by assuming that Guillen may not have been aware of MLB’s off the field activities.

“Ozzie may not have been fully aware of all the industry wide efforts by Major League Baseball and its clubs to help our players succeed in the transition to professional baseball, no matter the level of play or their country of origin.”

The one thing that is crystal clear, is the degree of disconnect between Guillen and MLB. The fact that they seem so out of touch with each other as to what really goes on in terms of education and training, is almost as alarming as the original allegations by Guillen. How is it possible that one or the other, could be so far apart in their perspective of their own profession ?

It looks like either Guillen, MLB, or maybe both to varying degrees, may have some homework to do on these serious issues.

Stormin Norman Rumack has been a respected sports radio broadcaster for nearly two decades. You can learn more about Norm by visiting his official website latenightvampire.com

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