MLB Trade Rumors: "The Giants acquired outfielder Jose Guillen from the Royals for a player to be named later and cash. The Royals, who gave Guillen an ill-advised three-year, $36MM deal in December of 2007, designated Guillen for assignment on August 5th. Guillen still has $3.39MM left on his contract, but the Royals are covering some of that, according to a press release. The 34-year-old is hitting .255/.314/.429 on the season with 16 home runs in 437 plate appearances. He has logged only 169 innings in right field, so playing him regularly in the outfield would be risky. The Giants probably don't have an everyday role in mind for Guillen anyway - there's no reason he should supplant Pat Burrell, Andres Torres, Aubrey Huff, or Travis Ishikawa."
Emmanuel Burriss will likely be sent down to make room, thus leaving Nate Schierholtz as the only viable pinch-running option.
Jose Guillen's stats are as follows: .255, 16 HR, 396 ABFor comparison, here's Ryan Garko's stats from '09 before the Giants got him: .285, 11 HR, 239 AB
Guillen's slash line is: 255/.314/.429
Garko's slash line: .285/.362/.464
Let's not look too much into Guillen's history of power numbers:
SF Chronicle: "Veteran major-league outfielder Jose Guillen, who played part of the 2003 season for the division-champion A's, bought thousands of dollars of steroids and human growth hormone from a troubled Florida anti-aging clinic and had some of the drugs shipped to the Oakland Coliseum, business records show."Guillen might benefit from a switch to the NL, which is said to be the weaker league, but with pitchers like Strasburg, Jimenez, and Johnson emerging this year as seemingly unstoppable forces, this might not be true anymore.
About Jose Guillen's personality, here's Extra Baggs on the matter:
"Guillen, well … there’s a reason he’ll be playing for his 10th major league team. But when we spoke to Bruce Bochy about Guillen on the last road trip, he was a huge proponent to add him to the roster. The skipper must feel he can keep Guillen in line, with help from his veterans. That’s good, because that’s exactly the challenge he has now."Hopefully, Guillen will not ruin the great clubhouse chemistry that has been built that has allowed the Giants to win 25 of their last 35. And hopefully, he'll actually contribute, maybe hit a few home runs down the stretch. That might be worth it.
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I have heard from sources that Guillen will be the everday right fielder with Huff moving to first. If this is true, Bruce Bochy has no clue what he's doing. Assuming Guillen starts in all of the Giants' remaining games, his defense will probably cost them 12 runs or so. This would be worth it, if his bat more than made up for it, but it doesn't. He'll be taking playing time away from Ishikawa, who tears up RHP.
Ishikawa vs. Right Handed Pitchers in 2010: .316/.363/.482
Guillen vs. Right Handed Pitchers in 2010: .264/.311/.462
Is Guillen really a better option for the starting lineup than Ishikawa, with his inferior hitting, atrocious defense, and his carcinogenic clubhouse attitude? I think not. Unfortunately, Bruce Bochy disagrees with me.
