White Sox reject Ozzie Guillen's rant

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CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox issued a statement Monday refuting comments manager Ozzie Guillen made about what he perceives as a Major League Baseball bias against Latin American players.

"This is an issue Ozzie Guillen obviously feels very passionately about," the statement read. "Ozzie certainly has his own experiences as a player, coach and manager, and is entitled to his own opinions, but the Chicago White Sox believe his views are incorrect."

Guillen said Sunday he's the "only one" in baseball who teaches young Latin players about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs, adding that Major League Baseball doesn't care about the problem.

"I'm the only one to teach the Latinos about not to use," Guillen said Sunday. "I'm the only one, and Major League Baseball doesn't [care]. All they care about -- how many times I argue with the umpires, what I say to the media. But I'm the only one in baseball to come up to the Latino kids and say not to use this, and I don't get any credit for that.

"They look at you and they say, 'Good for you Ozzie,'" he said. "Ozzie said it, don't worry about it. If somebody else said it they would be playing that [stuff] every day on the Jumbotron. ... I'm the only one that came up with that idea. I did it for the Latino kids. ... I want to help those kids."

An MLB spokesman denied those remarks, saying the league spends more time and effort educating Latin players about PED use than it does with players from the United States.

Guillen also said Asian players are provided preferential treatment over Latin players because there are interpreters who aid in their transition to American baseball.

"I say, why do we have Japanese interpreters and we don't have a Spanish one," Guillen said. "I always say that. Why do they have that privilege and we don't?

"Don't take this wrong, but they take advantage of us. We bring a Japanese player and they are very good and they bring all these privileges to them. We bring a Dominican kid ... go to the minor leagues, good luck. Good luck. And it's always going to be like that. It's never going to change. But that's the way it is."

The White Sox, who did not play Monday, disagreed.

"The White Sox do not agree with the assumptions Ozzie made in his comments yesterday," the organization's statement read. "Major League Baseball and the White Sox provide a number of programs to help our foreign players with acculturation, including English language classes and Spanish language presentations related to the risks of and testing for performance-enhancing drugs. The team also has Spanish-speaking staff assigned to serve as liaisons for our Latin American players.

"Ozzie may not have been fully aware of all of the industry-wide efforts made by Major League Baseball and its clubs to help our players succeed in the transition to professional baseball, no matter the level of play or their country of origin."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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