Let's forget the exact status of Juan Uribe at this point and instead look at the impetus behind the decision.
Obviously Kenny saw something he didn't like with the Uribe situation and saw fit to let him go. Sure, it could have been a purely financial situation, but it's not Kenny's M.O. to simply cut a guy with a $4.5M contract. No, there's something else going on here, and I think if we read between the lines a bit, we can see what's going on.
Let's look at some comments by Ozzie Guillen about the Uribe situation:
I don't know if anybody knew.
Juan is a different guy. He's nervous and gets kind of worried. I told
him, 'You're in the lineup [Thursday], and that's all I can tell you.
Get back to me tomorrow.
Considering how closely Kenny and Ozzie have worked together on the
roster, in the past, this certainly seems odd. According to Joe Cowley:
The last impression Guillen had about Uribe during an organizational
meeting Wednesday was that he was a candidate to make the opening
roster. While Guillen wouldn't say he was blindsided by Uribe waiver
questions after the game, he did seem to be in the dark.
The answer to all this confusion is pretty simple when you think about
it. The dynamic between Kenny and Ozzie has shifted. The trust the
two used to share is now gone to some degree, especially where roster
construction is concerned, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to
figure out why.
I think, and this is pure speculation, that Kenny has finally grown
tired of the way Ozzie uses players. It seems to me that Kenny is
finally taking a page from his buddy Billy Beane and starting to
dictate some of the on-field lineups from the front office, much to the
chagrin of a certain White Sox fan forum, I'm sure.
However, I can't help but think this is a good thing. Sure, it's not
uncommon for a manager to ask for a role player that can do some
specific things at given moments, but when those guys end up starting,
your team has got problems. I can guarantee you that Kenny did not
acquire Rob Mackowiak to start in CF.
There's an Ozzie Situation on the South Side, and it has nothing to do
with his mouth. The problem with Ozzie Guillen has always been that
he's not a very good manager, and nowhere is that more apparent than in
the way he's handled young players.
The best example of this is clearly Brian Anderson, a kid who
predictably struggled as he adjusted to MLB pitching, but still
maintained stellar defense. Brian was put into a bad spot, with fans
nostalgically pining for their favorite grinder Aaron Rowand. Still,
he improved as the season went, and the hitting was finally coming
around, but Ozzie, ever the impatient manager with the rookie, sat him
for Mackowiak, a poor defender and only marginally better hitter. When
Anderson would get at-bats, it was against Johan Santana and C.C.
Sabathia, and of course Anderson was overmatched, especially
considering his lack of regular at-bats.
The same situation happened in 2007 with Josh Fields. Guillen was
reluctant to play the super-talented Fields, and instead used Mackowiak
at 3rd when Crede went down with his season-ending back surgery. Kenny
was forced to trade both Mackowiak and Tadahito Iguchi to open up spots
for Fields and Danny Richar. Even then, it's likely that had Pablo
Ozuna not been out for the entire year, Ozzie still would have found a
way to bury the rookies.
This spring there appeared to be more of the same. Uribe was getting
heaps of praise from Ozzie, and it seemed that both Richar and the
newly acquired Ramirez were going to be on the short end of the stick.
I think Kenny saw what was happening with Uribe and realized the only
way to keep Ozzie from playing him was to get him off the team.
This is a disturbing trend, especially for a team that will need to get
younger before they get better. The White Sox cannot continue to go to
the veteran well to fix their problems. We have a roster full of guys
coming up on their decline phases, and we don't have the financial
resources of the Red Sox or Yankees to simply absorb their huge
contracts and loss of production. The White Sox must get younger,
better and cheaper in the coming years if they are going to stay
relevant.
But Ozzie Guillen has no desire to develop players (unless they are
fast slap-hitters, apparently). He said so this week, in the most
damning statement yet on the subject:
I don't care if this kid sits for 10 days--if he's going to help us
win. Development? I'm not going to develop my players for someone else.
I learned my lesson [in Florida].
The White Sox are in serious trouble if that's the way their manager
feels. What's most painful is the fact that the White Sox inexplicably
gave Guillen a contract extension at the beginning of the off-season,
after coming off a 72-win season. I know the Sox are in denial about
rebuilding, but when they eventually make that hard decision, which
will be the right decision, by the way, they're going to also have to
face the fact that they have the wrong guy for the job, and they're
going to have to pay him a lot of money to go away.
For better or worse, the White Sox are in a "win now" mode, and they're
going for broke, but I think Kenny is finally starting to realize that
this year's pennant hopes may be a Quixotic chase, especially if Ozzie
is going to go back to the same guys that did nothing in 2006 and
2007. Getting rid of the chaff like Uribe is the right thing to do
because Ozzie Guillen can't be counted on to do the right thing.
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