royalsandcelebs

Just when I said there was hardly anything interesting to write about the Royals, we’ve had yet another Jose Guillen incident.  In case you hadn’t heard, Guillen got into a shouting match with pitching coach Bob McClure.  The Kansas City Star reported he was upset about “excessive supervision” and started shouting.  McClure told him to be quiet, and they started shouting.  They had to be separated, and later, after manager Trey Hillman finished his press conference, was seen talking to him in private.  Then they played a baseball game.  They got shut-out.  It took me a while to find an article about the actual game, but not so long to learn about the blow-up.

This story upsets me for a number of reasons, mostly from a selfish, pure entertainment standpoint, and a few of merit.

1) Guillen didn’t choke slam McClure, a la that guy with the Astros.  I’m not saying that because I dislike McClure.  I’d have been just as satisfied if McClure choke slammed Guillen.  Also, there was a sufficient lack of pile driving, as in the Affeldt-Farnsworth affiar of 2005.  Just some guys yelling.  Boring.

2) The fight was between an outfielder and a pitching coach.  They don’t have to talk to each other the rest of the year, right?  Just some awkward stares from across the dugout.  Guillen probably didn’t even know who McClure was, and that’s why he blew up.  “Did the batboy just tell me to pipe down?  How ’bout I tell him to pipe down!”  Only he said it in Spanish, cussed a lot, and told him to talk to “the skipper.”

3) Guillen blowing up again makes me look bad for defending him, ’cause I can’t justify it this time.

Kietzman was right–I admit it now.  He wasn’t correct in suspending him 90 games for Effing the fans (not literally), but this… it is insubordination.  This is 90 games.

I’ve reached the point where I can’t stand up for the guy anymore, and I want his bat out of the… ahh, I can’t bring myself to say it.  Remember when I said Callapso wasn’t a dicey issue because he’s not a productive baseball player and we should cut him because he BEATS HIS WIFE?  Well, now Guillen has become an ethical dilemma.  Yes, he curses out the fans, belittles his teammates, doesn’t run out groundballs, bought human growth hormones, and almost starts fistfights with his coaches, but… he has 64 friggin’ RBIs.  64 RBIs!  No one even hit that many last year!  How could we dare let this guy go right now?  At the same time, what’s he going to do next if we don’t?  It’s going to look bad if he murders Mark Teahen while still batting fourth in our lineup.  Sure, we’d get a lot of press, and my readership might double to eight, but in the long-run, it’s best not to have a murderer on the payroll… unless he’s murdering the opposing team’s shaky bullpen!  Ahh, it’s dicey.

I say… we… trade… h…i…m… and man, did that hurt to say.  I think we’d get value.  If he gets 10 RBIs in the next 11 games, we’d get more than he’s worth.  I want one major-league ready player, another who’ll be up with us next year.  I think we can get it… but, damn it, I want 64 RBIs before the All-Star break!

This isn’t fair, but then again, it’s Kansas City sports.  Since we made that deal with the devil during Game 6 of the ‘85 Series, we’ve suffered a lot more than Satan said we would.  The Prince of Darkness is a shrewd negotiator.

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