Reinsdorf confirms asking Florida for a player to give them Ozzie Guillen

Wittenmyer @ CST:

Reinsdorf, in Orlando on the eve of owners meetings, … confirmed for the first time a Sun-Times report last month that he was willing to let the Florida Marlins interview Guillen for their manager vacancy in exchange for a high-level player.

”The Marlins asked for permission to talk to Ozzie, and we told them we’d let Ozzie go if they gave us a particular player,” Reinsdorf told the Sun-Times. ”But we knew they couldn’t give us the player.”

Sources told the Sun-Times the player was touted young slugger Mike Stanton, but Reinsdorf said it wasn’t Stanton. He declined to identify the player, but speculation points to first baseman Logan Morrison.

”We were never going to let Ozzie go, but if they would have given us this particular player,” he said, ”I would have let anybody go. … Everybody is available at a price. The only player I had that wasn’t available was Michael Jordan.”

Don’t miss the last line!

UPDATE: Buford nailed it in his October 29 comment:

Here’s the key sentence in KW’s response “That’s tampering. All I can say is the report isn’t COMPLETELY accurate.” This leads to the obvious question “Which part of the report is accurate and which part is not?” I would think the following is true (1) the Marlins want Guillen and (2) the Sox will let Guillen go, but only if compensated. The Stanton give-up may be the inaccuracy, but other players may also have been discussed.

With the Sox need for LHH and Konerko’s possible departure, Florida 1B prospect Logan Morrison would be a wonderful addition.

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