Guillen gets back to being Ozzie in a hurry
TUCSON, Ariz. -- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has vowed to take the gloves back off this season and return to being the forceful personality he was before last year's 72-90 disaster.
The 44-year-old fireball wasted little time living up to his promise.
During an hourlong team meeting Thursday prior to the Sox' first full-squad workout of spring training, Guillen's booming oratory could be easily heard in the hallway outside of the clubhouse.
Fortunately, no children were in the vicinity.
"I cursed maybe 1,000 times, but that's (the media's) fault,'' Guillen said. "That's the English I know, and I learned it from (the media). I never went to school here.''
And Guillen never went through a season like 2007, when the White Sox dropped under the .500 mark on the last day of May and never recovered.
"Both Ozzie and (general manager) Kenny Williams made the same point,'' said relief pitcher Boone Logan. "We need to go out there and get the job done. I think it was a really positive meeting. Ozzie was trying to get us riled up a little bit, get us going and get us focused.
"Last year was not fun, but it was something we all went through. We still went out and tried to do what we had to do.''
After the season mercifully came to a close, Williams went to work on some obvious holes.
The offense, which finished last in the major leagues in hitting (.246) and on-base percentage (.318), should be bolstered by the additions of shortstop Orlando Cabrera and outfielder Nick Swisher.
The bullpen's ERA last season was 5.47, the franchise's highest since 1957. Veteran relievers Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel were signed to shore up that mess.
Add in two intriguing players -- Cuban defector Alexei Ramirez and outfielder Carlos Quentin -- and it's easy to see why Guillen's opening address wasn't all gloom and doom.
"You look at our lineup, the people we have here, that's a pretty good ballclub,'' Guillen said. "People can say whatever they want to say, they can think what they want to think, some people get paid to think and do whatever they want to do. But in my heart, in my brain, I think we have a good ballclub to compete.
"I think it's up to the players how we're going to perform. I let them know what we expect from them -- we know it's going to be a little different this year than it was in the past -- and move on.''
Guillen singled out Cabrera, Swisher, Linebrink and Dotel during the meeting.
"I said, 'Listen, that's the reason we bring you guys here, because we really need you guys to put this thing together,' '' Guillen said.
Swisher, who can be as rambunctious as Guillen, can't wait to play for his new manager.
"The one thing I love is that he brings a lot of fire to the game,'' said Swisher, who came over in a trade from the Oakland Athletics for three top prospects. "That's how I play the game. I play the game with a lot of passion, a lot of fire. So I don't think there's going to be a lack of communication between he and I. It's going to be a great year.''
After Thursday's introduction, at least the new guys know they are playing for an atypical manager.
"I let them know exactly who I am, what I do,'' Guillen said. "If you come from another organization, all of the sudden everything you hear from the TV, radio, whatever it is, I showed them who the real Ozzie was, not what they hear about it.
"It wasn't anything surprising. You ask the guys who were here before and they'll say it was the same. You ask the guys who weren't here and it was different.''
As long as the end result is different from last season, Guillen won't need to speak his unique brand of English.