A report coming from ESPNdeportes.com states that Jose Guillen is upset with management in Kansas City and no longer wants to be a part of the Royals. The Kansas City Star reports the complete opposite, saying that Guillen wants to be in Kansas City. So who to believe?
“This is completely catching me by surprise,” Guillen said. “This isn’t coming from me. Trey and I are fine right now, and I’ve never said I wanted out of Kansas City.
Enrique Rojas is the reporter in question, and he quotes an unidentified source (always a red flag to me) that Guillen is no longer on speaking terms with manager Trey Hillman. “Guillen and Hillman are not on speaking terms, they don’t talk,” said the source. “Guillen is definitely not happy, he’s not comfortable and he would do anything he can in economic terms to ease his way out of Kansas City.”
Rojas also goes on to also say that part of the problem is the Royals are not fulfilling the promises made to him when he signed as a free agent this past winter. Looking at Guillen’s own comments thou that wouldn’t be completely true. Guillen was initially told the team would do what they could to try and become a winner in 2009 and he knew 2008 would be a loss. Well guess what it’s still 2008, did he forget that? I doubt it. The Royals aren’t going to become buyers when in the midst of another losing season, if they want to become contenders they’ll spend the money in the off-season.
Guillen said, “This is the team that is paying me a lot of money, and this is where I want to be. I don’t know where all of this stuff is coming from. I hate to be put in this situation, and now I look like a bad guy again.”
Guillen goes on (in the KC Star report) with quite a few other quotes and he sounds generally upset about this whole thing. He’s been pretty much a straight shooter throughout his career telling the media exactly how he feels, so one would almost think he’s telling the truth. Remember he did call his own teammates babies after a loss to the Minnesota Twins and even lashed out at the fans.
General Manager Dayton Moore is even surprised by this report. “This is puzzling to me because I tried to stay tuned in,” Moore said. “Unless he’s telling me one thing and saying another, I’ve been under the understanding that he and Trey are getting along well.”
Now in reality, Kansas City and Guillen could be covering up what’s really going on. But with Guillen’s history of speaking his mind, I’m inclined to believe that he wants to be a Royal. Granted they break their promise this off-season things may change.
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Tags: Kansas City Royals, MLB