Ozzie Guillen takes over Jack McKeon as Florida Marlins' manager – MLB News
After a not-so-fruitful season, Florida Marlins’ manager Jack McKeon has finally called it a day and will now return to North Carolina after Wednesday’s season-ending game against Washington Nationals.
As his replacement, the Marlins have supposedly signed Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen for a four-year 16-million-dollar contract.
Guillen was contracted with the White Sox for the 2012 season but following a request from the manager himself, the management has decided to release him against compensation from the Marlins. A league source has confirmed that Marlins will send Minor-Leaguers
to Chicago as reparation.
Both teams are expected to make an official announcement on Wednesday about Guillen’s trade to Florida and the soon-to-be manager will be on his way to South Beach as early as Tuesday, September 27.
Guillen has been with the Marlins before as third base coach under McKeon when the team went on to win the World Series title in 2003. He became manager of White Sox in the subsequent season, guiding them to become Champions in 2005 and thus ending an 88
year drought for the ballclub.
Praising Guillen’s managerial skills, McKeon said, "I like Ozzie. I think he's a very, very intelligent manager. He was a smart player. I think he will do well. He's done well. He's a good man, I like him."
McKeon further added that Guillen knows the game and his leadership skills have seen him win two World Series titles in a space of two years. McKeon appreciated his ability to handle Latin players and going on to the extent of being friends with them.
McKeon’s long managerial career has seen him prevail in 1050 games while his losses remain on the lower side at 988. At 80, however, he thinks that it is time for someone younger to take on the reins of the side although he did not deny his valour to manage
at this age. McKeon expressed disappointment on not leaving the role on a high but vowed to make a comeback in 2017 or 2018 to become the oldest manager to ever supervise a team.
Connie Mack holds the record for being the oldest manager in the Majors. He managed Philadelphia Phillies in 1950 when he was 87.
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