Aristotle would have loved the White Sox under Ozzie Guillen.
That came to mind as Sox general manager Ken Williams carefully described how Guillen's greatest weakness can mirror his greatest strength, the way it is in Greek tragedies. How the filter-less flair that can make Guillen go too far, as he did mocking some White Sox fans during one of his most recent rants, also helps him connect with players. Hubris is the word I offered, not Williams.
"When you're talking about a position of leadership, in which you are assigning the person to lead a group of high-testosterone, high-ego driven, competitive people, it takes a certain personality to get through to them, to relieve them, in good times and in bad," Williams told me recently in the White Sox dugout. "Sometimes with that extreme personality you have to take a little bit. Sometimes the same thing that inherently drives each person to be the men they are is the same thing that can tear them down . . . that can ultimately lead to his undoing."
I have little doubt that Ozzie being Ozzie one day will lead to Ozzie being unemployed. But Williams made clear privately and publicly he wasn't implying that day was near for a manager who occasionally seems as if he's daring the Sox to fire him. He wasn't implying anything but full-fledged support.
Referring to Guillen, Williams said he had "one of the best managers in the big leagues right now." He was at his oratorical best spinning potential negatives associated with Guillen's outburst into positives.
The Sox upped their payroll to $127 million in the offseason but clearly Williams sounded like a guy just as heavily invested in his relationship with Guillen.
He went well beyond a boss sticking up for his employee after the first real controversy of 2011. He went a little overboard, if you ask me.
When Williams asked Guillen about the comments on the team plane last Sunday, for instance, he didn't bother to watch a videotape of the exchange. Not after Guillen claimed the media twisted his words. Williams told Guillen he stood by him without having to look, which suggests how far their on-again, off-again relationship has come in a year. Too bad Oprah left town.
"I trust the man at his word," Williams said.
Pulling Williams aside, I asked how he could accept Guillen even indirectly insulting part of a fan base the Sox GM just finished saying he needed to fill the seats before Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf would approve a midseason move.
"I have to remind myself that I'm one of those guys (like Guillen) too so I can't be so quick to cast judgment," Williams said. "When it starts to trickle into the customers, the fans and directly affect them and it's not on-field related, there's more sensitivity. That changes the game."
This apparently changed nothing. With a scoff, Williams also dismissed any notion he has considered changing managers by calling speculation, "people talking and not really being in the know, sorry."
No apology necessary. But the statement Williams should regret making linked Sox attendance with trade strategy. It's still a major-market team. Whoever's struggling in the Sox lineup near the trade deadline needs to dictate what Williams does more than a struggling economy that contributes to low turnout as much as the standings.
"More fans would give me resources, the wherewithal -- I just call it cash -- to do some things," Williams said.
He did everything but stamp the Sox ticket-office hotline on the outside of his sunglasses.
At least Williams took responsibility for an expensive team that often has played as bad as the spring weather and "hadn't earned our fans' patronage." But unlike the Cubs, the Sox have a roster full of players who eventually will.
They can afford to wait for Adam Dunn and Alex Rios to carry their weight. Good thing do-everything Brent Lillibridge is carrying his, all 185 pounds of it. The Sox bullpen -- which would benefit most from a July move -- has stabilized. Starting pitching has been the strength, though the six-man rotation experiment can't end soon enough.
I know Williams swears it will make Sox starters such as Jake Peavy and Mark Buehrle stronger in August. But starting pitchers thrive on routine and it seems hard to imagine the Sox becoming the first team in baseball to use six starters successfully. Why?
"I have six and a lot of people have two or three," Guillen quipped.
OK, but does a team with an 0-8 starter -- tough-luck John Danks -- have six guys who deserve a turn?
"Danks really has had only one bad start," Guillen said.
Added Williams: "John Danks is still one of the best pitchers in the American League. He's the least of our concerns."
If Ozzie says it, Kenny believes it.
When these two sound alike, it's all Greek to me.
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