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Guillen Likes Where Rays Are Going

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 30, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG Ozzie Guillen was laughing, which he likes to do a lot, and pointing toward center field at the Trop. Someone had asked him whether the Rays would retire the No. 13 he wore here during a 41-game "career" in 2000 for a team that eventually lost 92 games.

"Right out there," he said.

We looked.

"The curtain's gonna drop and there you'll see it, my picture."

We laughed along with him.

For sheer entertainment and unpredictability, sitting in the dugout and talking baseball with the White Sox manager is one of life's guilty pleasures — although, to be honest, you shouldn't expect to do much of the talking. A question usually goes something like, "Ozzie, the Rays are playing better and …"

Ozzie takes it from there.

So the question on Thursday night before the opening game of the four-game series between the White Sox and Rays went something like, "Ozzie, the Rays are playing better and ..."

What followed was an interesting take from someone who has been here during the worst of times and now has a front-row seat — albeit from the opposing dugout — to the changes.

"They have the right people and they spent money on those guys. And the way their minor leagues are going, you're going to have a lot of guys staying to play for Tampa Bay," he said.

"Two years ago I said this team was going in the right direction. You could see the talent they have there. Now they've got the right people to manage that ballclub and handle those guys. That's what it takes."

A Lot To Like

Even though Guillen didn't spend a lot of time with the Rays as a player, you could tell pretty quickly that he had the right stuff to be a manager. People focus on his mouth, which flies open too often for some folks' taste, but no one can doubt that Guillen knows his way around a baseball team.

The biggest improvement he sees in the Rays?

"Pitching, more mature, more experience," he said. "It's about pitching though. I don't care how good the players are, without pitching you don't go anywhere."

Everybody likes the Rays these days — it's the chic thing — but Guillen was early to the party and comes with a little more perspective than most.

"I always liked this ballclub. It's about pitching and they have a lot of guys throwing the ball well, and the manager put a lot of great ideas together. They have a lot of kids out there and they've handled it real well," he said.

"Finally the organization has done something good. They know where they're going. When I was here before they didn't know what they wanted to do."

He was asked if he could have seen this day coming back when he wore a Rays uniform.

"When I was here? Never," he said.

And he laughed some more.

He was on a roll.

Extreme Makeover

This was just one man, with one opinion, about a developing situation with the Rays. It doesn't mean anything more than that. He was just talking ball, as they like to say.

It is interesting, though.

Within the past few days, the Rays have been on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News. The clubhouse is a little more crowded these days as out-of-town reporters peek inside to get their take on things. They're getting love on the national talk shows, and ESPN has picked up their game Wednesday at Boston. It won't be their last appearance.

You think about the coming months, if this keeps up. The Rays could be buyers at the trading deadline instead of sellers. There could be meaningful games at the Trop in August and September for the first time. The population of Rays Village might actually grow enough to qualify as a small city.

If so, it already has a mayor.

"Step by step they're going in the right direction," Guillen said. "That shows right now."

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