no, it was time for Guillen to go

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is being released from his contract (after being denied an extension) to manage the Florida Marlins next year. ESPN.com asks:

“Did Ozzie Have To Go — Really?
The combustible Kenny Williams-Ozzie Guillen working relationship for the White Sox ended Monday. But is the right guy leaving the club?”

Yes, I think so. Ozzie could be entertaining, and did fabulous work in bringing the 2005 World Series title to Chicago (though I’d have preferred that the other Chicago team win it!).

Nonetheless, Ozzie could also be a crude, racially insensitive trash-mouth who did shocking things like sneak up behind sportswriter and team critic Jay Mariotti and pretend to have sex with him (while wet and naked from the shower, if memory serves). Not funny, and most people would have been fired immediately for things like that. Ozzie got a lot of free passes on this kind of behavior, and I think the act was wearing thin in Chicago. But he’s popular in Miami, and I wish him well there.

By contrast, while you can question some of Kenny Williams’ recent moves, he’s a respectable and often imaginative executive who has made some good deals for the Sox over the years. I’m glad they’re keeping Williams and letting Ozzie go. Eight years is a relatively long time to manage a baseball team before fresh blood is needed, and it’s good to let World Series-winning Ozzie leave voluntarily with his head high rather than succumb to the almost inevitable firing or non-extension next season.