Miami Marlins Jeffrey Loria has never been known as a manager's owner. In his decade of ownership, the team has fired all but one of its managers, Jack McKeon. But even though Loria has clashed with just about every skipper the Marlins have employed, new manager Ozzie Guillen does not seem to be worried about the prospect of a meddling owner.
"Sometimes it's not easy to work for people who own the team and on top of that they’re baseball fans," Guillen said of Loria and his former boss (Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf) on Wednesday as the Marlins opened Spring Training camp in Jupiter. "Sometimes they think they know more than you when you are managing."
To say that about Loria is quite the understatement. Whenever he feels his team isn't performing up to par (and he feels this way a lot), Loria is not afraid to let it be known.
Guillen does not mind being second-guessed, though. "That happens to everyone. Even my wife second-guesses me," he said. "I don't care."
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Guillen means what he says. While managing the White Sox, he openly feuded with the team's general manager Ken Williams. He got away with it because of the undying love Reinsdorf had for him, but Loria can be a bit capricious.
Even so, Guillen thinks Loria will not get in the way of managing a Marlins club with playoff expectations. "I don't expect Jeffrey or anybody to talk to me in my office every other day and ask me what I'm doing," he said.
"Because if that happens, I mean, you got the wrong guy as manager. You ask me a question every day, why you hire me, then?"
Guillen surely would not be the first Marlins manager to say anything like that. Joe Girardi, Fredi Gonzalez and Edwin Rodriguez all fell victim to Loria's heavy-handed management style.
But McKeon never seemed to get the third degree from Loria. Perhaps he couldn't stand the odor of McKeon's omnipresent cigar smoke. If so, Guillen may want to take up the habit should the Marlins falter at any point this season. As Loria-avoidance strategies go, it sure beats hiding in the clubhouse showers.
