FanShot

Please please please trade JoGui now

35

José Guillén is currently on a hot streak, with his OPS back up to 823, 29th in the American League among qualifiers for the batting title. Right fielders and DHs currently below him in the AL are: Drew, Suzuki, Markakis, Cuddyer, Matsui, Hafner, Abreu, Ryan Sweeney, and Kubel, out of batting title qualifiers. Is JoGui better than these players? Most of them, no (Hafner's toast), and some of them, hell no. But let the traditional stats roll. JoGui has 13 home runs, in the AL top ten (he's tied with a bunch of other guys), and third among right fielders / DHs. He's got 41 RBI, 13th in the AL and third among RFs / DHs. This is about as good as he's ever going to be again. He's very likely to fall into another slump or get hurt or both. So trade him right now for what we can get. And who's the perfect team to trade him to? Toronto's DH, Lind, has a 634 OPS, but Toronto's front office is probably smart enough not to want JoGui. Chicago's right fielder, Quentin, has a 680 OPS, and Chicago might be just dumb enough to give us something. But the only GM in the world dumber than Dayton Moore is Omar Minaya, and Jeff Francoeur's OPS is 749. The Royals should hire the area's most successful used-car salesman and get him to talk trade with Minaya, Herb Tarlek-style. That ought to get us a whole raft of prospects. Or at least a gasoline-armed reliever to go with Farnsworth, whom we should also trade while his ERA is still under three.