Guillen Gets Extension

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Sep 12, 2007 2:12PM

Chicagoist was left scratching our head when we heard the rumors than an extension to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's deal was in the works. With two years remaining on his current deal and his team with the worst record in baseball, the rumors should have been that he was about to get canned. But for some reason, Sox general manager Kenny Williams decided he needed to lock Guillen up until 2012. Five more years of Ozzie. Care to explain your move, Kenny?

We do things here that we think are right for our own reasons, and we don't do things haphazardly. We've put a lot of thought into it, a lot of consideration of which way we're going. If people don't understand that, I can't do anything about that because I'm not going to tell them of all the conversations that we have in the back rooms.

Um, Kenny... we were just looking for an explanation, not for Capitol Hill testimony. We still don't get why you needed to extend his deal now. He's under your control for two more years. We don't blame Ozzie for this year's debacle -- he didn't put together the bullpen staff, and he's not the one going up to the plate and not getting hits.

On the other hand, you've already locked up your star free agent, so it couldn't be a demand by Buehrle to make sure Guillen's around in order to sign him. What was the sense of urgency? Did you think you could save a few bucks by re-signing him during an off year? Worried a return to the World Series would allow him to demand more money?

By the time this deal's over, Guillen will have managed the White Sox as long as Ditka coached the Bears following their Super Bowl victory. Sure, it was the first World Series title this town's seen in 88 years, but has Ozzie really earned that kind of job security as a result? Even Da Coach had worn out his welcome by the time he was fired.

Photo by Winslow Townson/AP via MLB.com