ESPN MLB

Ozzie Guillen's managing future is as difficult to decipher as Social Security reform, pension bailouts and 401(k) plans.

The White Sox manager said he might quit when the team was skidding in September. The next week he said he might retire if Chicago won the World Series.

Wednesday, before the deciding Game 4, he clarified his intentions, sort of.

"I'd still think about it, but I was just trying to make a point," Guillen told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We were really struggling when that question was asked a while ago. I had just signed a new contract extension and I just wanted to make the point that I'm not here for the glory, I'm not here for the money. I'm here to win."

He cited input from Braves manager Bobby Cox.

"He called me and said, 'You don't retire from baseball. You make them retire you. Keep taking the money away from them,' " Guillen told the Post-Gazette.

"I said, 'but I just signed an extension,' and he said, 'Make sure you get another one. You're too good a manager to walk away from the game.' "

After the 1-0 win that clinched Chicago's first World Series title since 1917, he was even more emphatic.

"I can't," he said, looking ahead to another managerial challenge next summer. "I'm not retiring until the All-Star Game. The All-Star Game is an honor."

In September, as the White Sox watched a 15-game AL Central lead shrink, he said his second season might be his last.

"When I win the World Series here in Chicago, maybe this year, maybe in 10 years, maybe two years, maybe three years, there is nothing better when you quit and go through the big gate, to get out big," he said. "That's what I want to do. That's what I explain to people. I just want to do it here. I only have two years doing this and if I do it this year, it will be a short career."

At the time, he said he wasn't looking for a way out.

"A lot of people misunderstand what I'm saying, a lot of people think I'm [talking of] quitting because I got a lot of pressure and got a lot of stress. I got stress and pressure because I want to win," he said.

General manager Kenny Williams said in September that did not take Guillen's desire to leave seriously.

Guillen signed a contract extension in May. The White Sox picked up the 2006 option on his contract, added two more years and included an option for the 2009 season.