Well, being an Indians fan, I feel they should give him a lifetime contract. He is doing wonders there keeping the Indians rolling towards the playoffs. I hear Mike Hargrove is available
Ozzie was the right man for that team in 2005 given how the team was put together, but he's not the right man now, and it's painfully obvious. Kenny Williams has gotten a lot of credit for his decisions in the past 5 years but lately he's been making some odd ones. (Publicly courting Eckstein comes to mind.) I was actually at the game tonight, without having seen this news, and was having a conversation with my friend about how he was a lame duck manager. I sure was wrong about that.
All of you are wrong,( in my opinion). Lets see. He wins a World Championship with a basic team. Several years later,he has the same as when he started and he is offered a 5 year contract. Shades of a master plan. Who runs a team. The owner, of course. Who runs the team? Don't know, do you?
Are you asking if we know who Jerry Reinsdorf is? Do you have a point?
Several years later,he has the same as when he started and he is offered a 5 year contract. A team that is now several years older. Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye are not what they were in 2005. Throw in the fact that the Tigers and the Indians are both excellant teams, the Twins are still somewhat solid, and the array of talent around the American League and it doesn't look good for this team. Not to mention they have a worse record than the Royals. That is pitiful.
Before Ozzie took over the White Sox, they were so boring it was easy to forget they were in the league. With Ozzie at the helm, their Q rating has risen considerably. People actually care where the White Sox are in the standings -- whether they're winning or losing. Ozzie gets headlines in every major media outlet. On top of that, his Latino heritage adds a layer of identity for the growing Latino population in both the player and fan bases. From a business perspective, I totally understand this move. It's almost a no-brainer.
This is a real headscratcher. I mean, I'm in the boat that says an manager's importance is overestimated, but does anyone really think he'll make it all the way through the 2012 season? AGNP