Ozzie Guillen Claims Double-Standards Exist in Major League Baseball
Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen has recently revealed some thoughts that have been lingering in his head.
The outspoken Guillen has stated that he believes that Asian players coming into the majors are given more rights and advantages over Latino players.
One advantage imported Japanese players get over Latinos, said Guillen, is that Japanese players are given a translator, whereas Latinos are not.
"Very bad. I say, why do we have Japanese interpreters and we don't have a Spanish one. I always say that. Why do they have that privilege and we don't?" Guillen said.
Guillen has never been one to shy away from stating his opinion. He likely doesn’t mean any disrespect in his comments, he’s simply saying how he feels.
"Don't take this wrong, but they take advantage of us. We bring a Japanese player and they are very good and they bring all these privileges to them. We bring a Dominican kid ... go to the minor leagues, good luck. Good luck. And it's always going to be like that. It's never going to change. But that's the way it is."
The Venezuelan native also said that when he was watching his son play in Class-A baseball, the team had a translator for a Korean prospect who was apparently paid more than the players. Guillen said that the only Latino player able to speak English was his son, Oney.
"We had 17 Latinos and you know who the interpreter was? Oney. Why is that? Because we have Latino coaches? Because here he is? Why? I don't have the answer," Guillen said. "We're in the United States, we don't have to bring any coaches that speak Spanish to help anybody. You choose to come to this country and you better speak English."
Guillen also said that players from Latin America are encouraged or pressured to use performance enhancing drugs.
"It's somebody behind the scene making money out of those kids and telling them to take something they're not supposed to," Guillen said. "If you tell me, you take this ... you're going to be Vladimir Guerrero, you're going to be Miguel Cabrera, you're going to be this guy ... I'll do it. Because I have seven brothers that sleep in the same room. I have to take care of my mother, my dad. ... Out of this I'm going to make money to make them better."
Guillen also said another problem is that he’s the only one teaching Latinos to stay away from performance-enhancing drugs, yet all the league cares about is that he often argues with umpires.
"I'm the only one to teach the Latinos about not to use," he said. "I'm the only one and Major League Baseball doesn't [care]. All they care about -- how many times I argue with the umpires, what I say to the media. But I'm the only one in baseball to come up to the Latino kids and say not to use this and I don't get any credit for that."
Guillen has said that his teachings lose credibility thanks to the majors. He claims that because the words come from his mouth, they’re trivialized.
"They look at you and they say, 'Good for you Ozzie,'" he said. "Ozzie said it, don't worry about it. If somebody else said it they would be playing that [stuff] every day on the jumbotron. ... I'm the only one that came up with that idea. I did it for the Latino kids. ... I want to help those kids."
The league has denied that the accusations by Guillen are true, but there is really no sufficient facts and figures being thrown out there to argue for either side. The sport has not been able to prove Ozzie wrong and Ozzie’s opinion cannot be trusted as fact until there is sufficient evidence. This may be an ongoing, useless argument unless facts are soon shown to either prove Guillen right or wrong.
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