Florida Marlins: Ozzie Guillen's Arrival in South Beach Inevitable for 2012

The Florida Marlins are off to one of the better starts in franchise history and are currently fighting tooth and nail with the Phillies for the NL East.

Conversely, on the South Side of Chicago, the White Sox are off to a dreadful 10-16 start, trailing last year's bottom dwelling Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals in the AL Central. 

But it's way too early to make any assumptions.

After all, Edwin Rodriguez has done an admirable job with the Marlins through the first 23 games (15-8). 

The White Sox had a similarly poor start last season. At their lowest point, the team was 24-33 before turning it around in mid-June. 

So again, it's too early to even point this out, however, if owner Jeffrey Loria hadn't signed Edwin Rodriguez to a "curious" one-year contract, we wouldn't be pointing this out. Loria fired Fredi Gonzalez last season to hire Bobby Valentine. When that failed, he had no choice but to stay with Edwin Rodriguez for the remainder of the season. 

In the offseason, the team went the Valentine route, going 0-2 and crossing paths with Chicago when they wanted to talk to Ozzie Guillen for the possibility of joining the Marlins.

Unfortunately, those talks ended when they demanded a player. (Reports circulated that it was either Logan Morrison or Mike Stanton, both of whom are highly valuable to the Marlins at the moment.) 

There is no denying Loria wants to make a splash—they are heading into a new stadium in 2012, with a new name, uniforms, and color scheme—essentially a new identity—so the need to have everything wrapped in a bow is clearly visible. 

If the Chicago White Sox fail to make the playoffs this season, despite the club exercising the option his contract, they may or may not decide to let him loose. The White Sox were heavily favored in the preseason to win the division so anything less than that would be considered a failure by all means. 

If the Marlins made the playoffs (a huge if) they would more than likely retain Edwin Rodriguez, considering, A: it saves the franchise money and B: not many (if any) "experts" picked the Marlins to advance to the playoffs. 

So with all that said, is a formal Ozzie and Miami reunion inevitable?

The way it's set up, yes.

Now, Ozzie Guillen loves Chicago and Chicago loves him, but if the team disappoints, is there really a return back for him next season? Edwin Rodriguez would certainly be a lame duck if Ozzie hit the market, perhaps as soon as during the season if the South Siders fall to the AL Central cellar in May and June. 

I love Edwin and the job he is doing with the Marlins, but if Loria wants to make headlines with the ballclub, he will find just the man to do it—Ozzie Guillen.