Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Royals Shopping Guillen?

According to the Kansas City Star, the Royals are shopping Jose Guillen in hopes of landing a couple solid prospects for the future. While Guillen is putting up good power numbers, his average is way down. In 128 games this season, Guillen is batting .249 with 18 HR and 81 RBI. Guillen is a career .272 hitter and has proved to be effective in years past. It is possible the Mariners would make a move on him and bring him back, while letting Raul Ibanez walk. While he is a distraction, he was affective for the Mariners. Another option for Guillen would be the Mariners, who could view him as a fall back if they miss out on Manny Ramirez or Adam Dunn.

The Royals may have struck gold with Mike Aviles, who is hitting .330 with 7 HR in his first big league season. However, both Alex Gordon and Billy Butler are under performing and Bannister and Hochevar are not holding their own in the rotation. Daniel Cortes, who is 10-4 with a 3.78 ERA in Double-A, has a bright future with the Royals; however, it should become a priority of the Royals to get Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer to the majors ready to produce. One guy in the Royals farm system to look out for is Derrick Robinson, who is down in Single-A. While he only hit .245, he stole 62 bases in just 124 games. He is still adjusting to the major leagues and could turn into a player similar to Juan Pierre, assuming he can improve his bunting and contact hitting.

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