It’s not official yet but all signs point to the Royals signing Jose Guillen to shore up their outfield. The slugger has had a troubled past but this is kind of what the Royals need to do. Let’s call it the Tigers Model. They were really bad and no free agent wanted to sign with them. They then signed mediocre free agents to above market deals just to get back to respectability and took some chances on some injury prone players like Ivan Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez. The other end would be drafting the best player available regardless of signability and while the Royals aren’t there yet, they are making more of an effort in the free agent market. This signing is one of those deals.
The deal is rumored to be a three year, $36 million deal but he also looks to be one of the people who will be named in the Mitchell Investigation. He’s currently negotiating a suspension for PED’s and it looks like he’s going to miss the first two weeks of the 2008 season. Still, this is a guy with 25-30 homer potential and he gives the Royals’ lineup an immediate boost. Inuuries are a concern, but again, these are the kind of risks a poor team like the Royals have to take.
It looks like the Andruw Jones rumors came to a halt when he signed with the Dodgers yesterday. That was too bad.