Ozzie Guillén makes admission about White Sox

Before the 2022 Major League Baseball season, the Chicago White Sox hired Pedro Grifol to turn the team around.

He did not. The Sox went 89-190 in less than two seasons at the helm. He was fired last week when Chicago sat at 28-89 overall and were just a few days removed from the longest losing MLB losing streak since 1988 .

Among the people the White Sox interviewed for that job in 2022 was former manager Ozzie Guillén, who was told the team needed to look to the future instead of re-hiring him. It’s a decision that he recently admitted made him feel “bitter.”

Once again, there are rumors that the Sox might want to look to the NBC Sports Chicago analyst, who managed them to the 2005 World Series championship, to bring the franchise back to glory.

After Friday night’s White Sox loss to the Chicago Cubs, Guillén was asked about whether or not he would be interested in returning to the dugout one more time. He essentially said no, but in a very Ozzie Guillén way that didn’t quite slam the door shut.

“I never expect or think about being the manager of the White Sox for so many reasons, so many reasons, and I’m a big part of that,” Guillén said. “At the end of the day they’re going to pick the right guy.”

“Everytime I said something about Pedro, [fans would say] ‘Oh, you want to be the manager.’ No I don’t. If they call me, fine. If they don’t, I have a great job hanging around [with Chuck Garfien].”

The former White Sox skipper said the decision about the next team manager is general manager Chris Getz’s chance to make his mark on the franchise, and that decision has to be the right one.

“(Getz) has a time where he can be the hero or the zero in this town,” Guillén said. “He’ll be God or The Devil.”

Guillén did note that he wants to see the White Sox hire someone who isn’t “nice,” in what seems like a not-so-thinly-vieled dig at Grifol .

“To be honest with you I’m tired to see so many nice guys managing,” Guillen said. “Nice guys, beautiful people, love them, you want to kiss them. But at the end of the day look at what happened. You’re nice, you get fired and those guys are still playing.”

There are quite a few reasons a return to the world of managing doesn’t make sense for Guillén, but most of all, it would be a shame to be deprived of his unique approach to commentary and analysis .

[ NBC Sports Chicago , White Sox Talk ]

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