Jake Peavy Says Ozzie Guillen Quit on the White Sox

Over his nine-year career, Jake Peavy has been a dominant MLB starter when healthy. The problem is he is rarely ever healthy. Since Peavy was acquired by the White Sox, that always seemed to irritate former manager Ozzie Guillen. It’s no secret that the two never got along, and it was known that Guillen believed Peavy gave up on the team. During a recent interview with WSCR-AM 670, Peavy gave his side of the story. According to the right-hander, it was Guillen who called it quits.

“I know he had a hard time, saying I quit on him, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Peavy explained. “I would never quit on a team. … Ozzie didn’t finish the season with us the last (two) games. So I don’t know who quit on who.”

As you may remember, the White Sox had to make a decision on whether or not to shut Peavy down at the end of the season last year.  Guillen wanted no part in the decision, which could be because he was sick of hearing about Peavy’s injuries or because he already knew he was headed to Miami.  In all likelihood, it was a combination of both.

“At the end of the day, Ozzie didn’t really know what goes on, (about the decision)” Peavy said according to the Chicago Tribune.

To say that Ozzie is outspoken would be a legendary understatement, so it comes as no surprise that he and his oft-injured starter never got along.  That being said, the way he left Chicago was not exactly well-received by many.  In a sense, Peavy is right about who walked out on the team.