Giants Obtain Guillen From Royals

Earlier this month, the Kansas City Royals placed outfielder Jose Guillen on waivers despite leading the team with 16 home runs and 62 RBI.

Today, they dealt Guillen to the San Francisco Giants for their pennant drive. The Giants are currently in a three game series with the San Diego Padres who are as of this writing three and a half games up on the Giants in the NL West. The Giants do have a half game lead over the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card.

The Giants could use Guillen's bat. They could also use his arm in right field. But they could probably do without his attitude. Since making his MLB debut in 1997, Guillen has played for nine times and the Giants will be his tenth. Guillen has previously played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Washington Nationals and Seattle Mariners before signing as a free agent with the Royals prior to the 2008 season.

Guillen's best season came in 2004 with the Angels when he hit .294 with 27 homeruns and 104 RBI. But Angels manager Mike Scioscia suspended Guillen in the final week of the regular season after an outburst in the clubhouse. Scioscia also kept Guillen off the Angels' post-season roster. The Angels would be swept by the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. Guillen has not disguised his contempt for Scioscia in the years that have followed.

One wonders if Guillen ran into similar problems in K.C. with Ned Yost. On the other hand, if the Giants are only planning to utilize them through the end of this season then a few weeks might very well be worth the price of a World Series ring. After all if Giants skipper Bruce Bochy could handle Barry Bonds then he can probably put up with Guillen in the short term.