Three days after the Chicago White Sox retired his No. 13 at Rate Field, Ozzie Guillén sat down on the El Infield podcast — and closed another chapter entirely. At 62, with 678 career managerial wins in the big leagues, Guillén turned down an offer from the Águilas del Zulia for the 2026-27 LVBP season and made his reasoning plain: La Guaira let him go without telling him first, and that wound hasn’t healed.
The Hurt: Petit Called Before La Guaira Did
The timeline matters. Under the tandem of Luis Sojo as general manager and Guillén as field manager, the Tiburones de La Guaira won the LVBP title and the franchise’s first Serie del Caribe championship in 38 years — back in the 2023-24 season. What followed was a different story.
In May 2025, with Fernando Veracierto’s new front office already in place, La Guaira named Gregorio Petit as their next manager. Guillén found out the indirect way: Petit called him to ask about the roster before the organization had officially told Ozzie he was out. That, he says, is what stung the most.
On the podcast — hosted by Efraín Zavarce — Guillén chose his words carefully but didn’t soften them. He made clear he doesn’t consider Sojo an enemy and respects him, but his point was simple: if Sojo was the one who brought him to the team, Sojo was the one who should have told him it was over. The absence of that conversation, Ozzie reads as an institutional failure — not a personal grudge. The organization put both of them in a tough spot.
He Turned Down Zulia — And Meant It
After leaving La Guaira, Guillén managed the Tigres de Aragua in the 2025-26 season. By May 2026, he’d had a second consecutive quiet exit from the LVBP — Aragua didn’t renew him either. The Águilas del Zulia came calling. Ozzie said no.
His words on El Infield leave little room for interpretation:
«The Águilas del Zulia called me and I was honest with them — I told them I wasn’t going to manage in Venezuela anymore, and thank you for the opportunity.»
Context matters here. He said this in an emotionally charged moment, just days after receiving the biggest individual honor of his career in the United States. Guillén has reversed course before — in December 2024 he resigned from La Guaira and came back the next day. But this time the pattern is different: two straight quiet exits, one offer turned down, and a number retirement that plants him firmly in Chicago. For now, the door is shut.
His Best Moment in Chicago, His Freshest Wound in Venezuela
On August 8, 2026, the White Sox retired Guillén’s No. 13 at Rate Field ahead of a game against the Cleveland Guardians. He became the first manager in franchise history to receive that honor — the 13th individual overall to have a number hang on that wall.
The numbers that got him there are real: 678 wins and 617 losses as Chicago’s manager (.524 winning percentage), with the 2005 championship as the peak — 99 regular-season wins and a 11-1 postseason run that left no doubt. As a player, he was the 1985 AL Rookie of the Year, won a Gold Glove in 1990, and made three All-Star appearances.
Today he works as an analyst for CHSN, the White Sox’s local network. His number is on the wall. Venezuela is in the rearview mirror. And Guillén is still exactly what he’s always been: the guy who says exactly what he thinks, whoever that happens to bother.
