Nick Swisher only had one season of manager Ozzie Guillen before being traded to the Yankees in the winter, but that should have been plenty of time for him to learn that it's easy to say the wrong thing and get Guillen on the attack.
Or maybe he didn't learn that. A Q&A with Swisher that ran in the New York Post was brought to Guillen's attention before he headed to Miami for Monday's off day, and in one segment, Swisher was asked about his new teammates and his new manager, Joe Girardi.
Swisher's reply on Girardi: "Never want to play for anybody else. There's just something about him, man. He brings everybody together. Best manager I ever played for."
Not only did that have a very similar ring to Orlando Cabrera taking a shot at Guillen last season when he called Angels skipper Mike Scioscia the smartest manager he ever played for, but Guillen couldn't figure out how Swisher could make a statement like that since he has been wearing the pinstripes for, as Guillen described it, "one week, two weeks."
"Well, I heard the same (bleep) on April 20 (last year) about me," Guillen said. "He's got to say what he's got to say. He was talking about people he's only known for two weeks. That's hard to make that statement when you only know people for two weeks, but that's Nick.
"I'm not pretending to be the best manager, I never will. But I guarantee that I will manage a lot longer than he will play. That's all I can say. And I got more friends in baseball than I have enemies. Some people can't handle the way I manage. It's not easy. When you manage you have to deal with 25 to 50 people every year to make people happy, you can't. But it's easy when you hit .350 or .390, everybody is a good manager. It's easy to blame people."
Swisher, who was acquired from Oakland prior to the 2008 season, had a rough one year with the Sox, eventually losing his job in the final few months and becoming noticeably grumpy. He was sent to the Yankees in a trade this winter.
"I never said I was a good manager, I never will," Guillen said. "But do I get along with all my players? Yes. Some better than others? Yes. I didn't come here to impress anyone, and I hope I do a good job. All of a sudden, he knows everyone on the ball club. I was reading the article and I just laughed. You only got one week, two weeks on the team and everyone is nice? That's part of the game. That's the way it is. That's the way Swisher is. Things work out for him good, everyone is great. That (bleep) doesn't work out for him, it's someone's fault."
