Ozzie Hates Brian Anderson?

The conventional wisdom on internet message boards is that Ozzie Guillen hates Brian Anderson for an inexplicable reason. Many take Anderson’s recent demotion to AAA to be proof that Guillen is ruining Anderson, and that prospects cannot develop with the Sox while Guillen is managing.

However, Guillen’s words after the demotion undermine this belief. Ozzie said, “We still think he can play every day in the big leagues. If we didn't, we'd just leave him here and let him do what he's doing right now. He'd be a backup player for his life.” This is exactly right. If Anderson were to become established as a backup now, he would likely be stuck with the backup label for the rest of his career. It is very tough for players to get teams to give them a chance to start once that label has been applied to them.

Clearly, Ozzie does not hate Anderson. He has apparently been giving him some tough love to try and help him become a big league player. This is not a bad thing. Anderson is only twenty-five years old and had never struggled as a baseball player until last year. The first time you struggle at something is always a difficult thing to overcome, and the Sox are giving Anderson the tough love he needs to get through this. Hopefully, he will get straightened out in Charlotte and will come back ready in September to prove that he will belong on the 2008 White Sox.