Giants Do Something Wacky

Published by on August 13, 2010 | 6 Responses

Oh, that Giants.

Ken Rosethal tweets:

Rival executive says Guillen to #SFGiants is “done,” confirming ESPNDeportes report. #Royals #MLB

You can scroll down for my take on Guillen or read it right here. It hasn’t changed.

* Jose Guillen, OF – I love the idea of picking up an outfielder and moving Huff back to 1B. It improves the overall defense and it should keep Huff fresh. However, Jose Guillen is not the outfielder you are looking for. Guillen has had a resurgent year at the plate (.347 wOBA) after posting a .304 wOBA in an injury plagued 2009 campaign. Despite advanced medical skills, Guillen isn’t a good bet to actually help the Giants. Never a strong fielder, Guillen is more of a DH these days. He’s unlikely to be an upgrade over Burrell and he’ll cost prospects in a trade. Mega-pass on Guillen.

So, yeah. The Giants just traded for Jose Guillen. You’ll also be happy to know that since I posted that quote, Guillen’s wOBA has dropped to .325 — so most of the luster is gone. Unless you’re into dingers and RBIs, then if so, great move! Also, I know that our outfield has rated quite well this year, but remove Andres Torres from the mix and we’ve got Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand, Jose Guillen, and Aubrey Huff as the primary “defenders” in the outfield. That’s just a tad bit scary.

If Guillen takes on any role that’s larger than pinch-hitting, this becomes terrible news. No word on who the Giants are sending to the Royals.

Update:

Sounds like the player will be a PTBNL. The bigger news is this…

Bruce Bochy confirms Guillen will be the everyday RF and Aubrey Huff will play 1b. #sfgiants

That’s from Jeff Fletcher’s twitter feed. To put it bluntly, the Giants made themselves worse today. Andres Torres is an amazing CF, but playing him between Burrell and Jose Guillen is almost criminal. There’s nothing about this move that makes a lick of sense. Consider this for a second: Torres’ hamstrings kept him out of the lineup yesterday, if he misses time, the Giants OF defense becomes Burrell – Rowand – Guillen. That’s … um … very bad.

That sound you just heard is the pitching staff’s ERA rising.

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Merkled
Merkled

I second the emotions of all G fans on here when I say "uh-oh!" RF is not a place you just place anyone and Huff has started to play well there with nice plays and good reads before pitches to get an extra step. He looks like old man river but he is smart and has taken to RF pretty well. All the concerns aside I think it gives the Giants another offensive option and adds depth to the bench. Was any Giants fan excited about going into the playoffs with Schierholtz and Ish as the only viable bench options? Fontenot, Schierholtz, Ish, Rowand now are 4 decent options if Rowand continues to wake up from his coma. Granted its not as good as getting a gift like Burrell for free (-$11m) but they got Fontenot and Guillen for the low price of a stadium beer. The way Bochy fires through his relievers I think there are never enough bench options.

925GigantesDude
925GigantesDude

I think Sabean is gotta be thinking, "shit if the Giants don't make the playoffs this year, I'm out of a job, lemme see if I can get every bat possible so I look like I'm busy." Guillen in RF kinda worries me, that's a tough spot to play if you're not used to that wall, as much as Randy Winn's bat sucked, he knew every deflection off that brick monster. My big question is where in the batting order do you put him?

tedfordfan
tedfordfan

If the PTBNL is anything more than Ryan Verdugo or Kyle Nicholson I'm going to be angry.

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

It really doesn't make any sense to me. Getting Huff out of the OF -> 1B is a good thing. But replacing him with Guillen feels like a 2 steps forward, 3 backward kind of thing.

marcello
marcello

Wow, just wow. I wasn't happy with this trade at first, but to now hear that Guillen is going to be the starting RF? Why can't this team just let me enjoy what has been a fantastic year, to this point?

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

UZR numbers for those that may be interested. Burrell, LF: -7.6 runs UZR/150 Rowand, CF: +7.6 runs UZR/150 Guillen, RF: -4.2 runs UZR/150