Jose Guillen and His Power Sapping Blisters

by Jeff Zimmerman on Jun 29, 2010 4:00 AM EDT

With talk of the Royals trying to trade Jose Guillen off, the Royals might find it hard to move him for a while. I know teams are clamoring for his defensive ability and great personality, but his lack of offensive production may keep him away.

Jose has been bothered by a blister in his foot for a while and it has hurt his production as he admits in this comment:

"I (rotate) and push off on that foot when I swing," Guillen said. "That blister makes it hard to do that with any power. I mean, I'm seeing the ball pretty good, but all I can do is go up there and try to make contact."

Here are some numerical comparisons of how Jose has done from May 15th to Jun 11 and Jun 12 to Jun 27th

Date	Tm	G	GS	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Jun 12, 2010 to Jun 27, 2010	KCR	14	14	58	55	20	0	0	0	2	7	0.364	0.386	0.364	0.750
May 15, 2010 to Jun 11, 2010	KCR	26	26	110	94	26	3	2	5	9	27	0.277	0.373	0.511	0.883

Outcomes of each at bat

Date	Strikeout	Single	Flyout	Groundout	Walk	Home Run
May 15, 2010 to Jun 11, 2010	24%	15%	15%	12%	8%	5%
Jun 12, 2010 to Jun 27, 2010	12%	34%	17%	22%	3%	0%

He has had no extra base hits over that time and he has the great line of having an OBP higher than SLG (which has dropped about 0.150 points)

He is making more contact recently, but that contact has been weak.

Now here is a comparison of his batted balls for each time frame:

Note on the data: The locations are where the ball is fielded and is from texasleaguers.com

As it can be seen, Jose has not hit a ball past the 300 foot mark for over a 2 weeks. If I were a team looking to add someone of Jose's qualities, I would wait until he at least starts putting a few balls to the warning track or gets his next home run.

Update: Looks like the blisters are healing. Sweet, makes trading him much easier:

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Comments

Looks like a spray chart from a co-ed softball game.

First is the guy’s chart and then a girl’s. It definitely appears that something is killing any power he did have, why not sit him and let it heal? Though I do question the “blister” part of the injury, shouldn’t that have healed in about a week? Junior year of high school I had some awful blisters from a new pair of football shoes and they were fine in about 7 days. Yet a major leaguer has been dealing with it for two weeks?

Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball...Rock Chalk Talk

by Warden11 on Jun 29, 2010 8:26 AM EDT reply actions

... and then a girl’s

Actually, it is about identical to Jason Kendall’s chart

- .-. ..- … – / – …. . / .—. .-. - .. . … …

by Jeff Zimmerman on Jun 29, 2010 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Actually, Kendall has hit the ball further over the same time period.

- .-. ..- … – / – …. . / .—. .-. - .. . … …

by Jeff Zimmerman on Jun 29, 2010 9:18 AM EDT up reply actions

huh...

…Kendall knocked at least one to the wall this weekend. I suppose that “location is where the ball is fielded” counts for balls coming back toward the infield, too.

I think those two deep hits to the outfield were in back-to-back at bats, too (possibly both against Garcia).

by kcemigre on Jun 29, 2010 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions

or Getz's

Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball...Rock Chalk Talk

by Warden11 on Jun 29, 2010 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions

He seems more productive recently

by Yamfun Cheng Kamfun on Jun 29, 2010 8:35 AM EDT reply actions

Blister? We thought he'd secretly been playing with a wooden prosthetic since 2005.

Also, he lost his sense of smell as a small child and has to chew gum with a third set of wisdom teeth.

PARADEBULATE!

by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Jun 29, 2010 9:29 AM EDT reply actions

Crap

I can’t see any way he’ll get traded. Unless someone is stupid enough to think his hit streak means anything. And who could be that dumb?

by sfeldkamp on Jun 29, 2010 10:18 AM EDT reply actions

There's always Omar...

"You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes."

by MinnesotaRoyal on Jun 29, 2010 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions

In Russia, Jeremy Affeldt wishes that JoGui had.....

blister sapping power.

by Nighthawk at the Diner on Jun 29, 2010 11:29 AM EDT reply actions

Jose Guillen and the Blister-Sapping Power

Sounds like a Harry Potter book. Hot seller, here we come!

"You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes."

by MinnesotaRoyal on Jun 29, 2010 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions

And this is why I don't watch baseball...

Jose Guillen probably isn’t the best example of this but anytime a team, particularly the Royals or another small market, “not very good” team develops a solid player, he’s gone before the season is even up. How the hell are the Royals ever supposed to be any good?!?! We are seriously nothing but a farm team for Boston, New York (both) and perhaps LA. There are probably one or two other teams I could add to that list. Because in baseball you have 4 or 5 all star teams and the rest are fodder. Any other team that ever wins is a total fluke. And if another team does win, their roster is then divided up between the Yankees and Redsox and whoever else has $$$. In baseball you buy championships. Period. I still follow the Royals via ESPN, other online outlets, and on here but it’s just very discouraging to know your team will never ever make it to the big one. Not unless changes are made… Like salary cap.

by chiefs_fan83 on Jun 29, 2010 11:43 AM EDT reply actions

When is the last time the Royals traded a good player midseason?

And, no, Octavio Dotel in 2007 does not count.

by Gopherballs on Jun 29, 2010 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions

And when was the last time Jose Guillen was a solid player?

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jun 29, 2010 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Always nice to have Royals employees posting here

1) The Royals did not “develop” Jose Guillen. He bounced around about half these teams in the league over about 10 years before 2008 wh en Dayton Moore signed him to an foolish 3-year, 36 million contract when the next best offer was probably about 1/7.

2) Jose Guillen is solid in the sense that a vacuum cleaner is solid.

3) A recent objective study shows show that despite having the greatest payroll inequality among the major league sports, baseball actually is more competitively balanced. Indeed, “there is a significantly positive relationship between payroll inequality and competitive imbalance.”

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs and Beyond the Box Score.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jun 29, 2010 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Well as I said

I don’t really follow baseball anymore. And I also stated that Jose wasn’t the best example. I don’t just mean developed I guess, but anytime a decent player rolls into KC it seems like he’s gone as soon as ppl realize he’s any good. Which is why I don’t bother with any player merchandise, it’s pointless. I’m a big time homer and would love to see the Royals succeed, I always root for them even though everybody and their brother bashes me for being a fan. And I live locally, lol. Again, I hope they do well. For them to win would be amazing, it would mean they beat all odds. And would also probably mean they wouldn’t win again, because all their talent would go to highest bidder the following year… /sigh… Is it football season yet?

by chiefs_fan83 on Jun 29, 2010 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

The Royals have been bad because the organization has been poorly run for a long, long time

The problem has not been talented players leaving (Damon and Dye were a decade ago), but not enough talent players arriving. Teams with similar market size and revenue as the Royals have been competitive over the last decade. The one true star player, Greinke, signed an extension instead of bolting as a free agent at the first opportunity, but the front office has surrounded him with players like Jose Guillen, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Mike Jacobs.

by Gopherballs on Jun 29, 2010 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Valid point

It was and has been a poorly run organization, and I hope things are headed in the right direction and from I read on here that just may be the case. I guess I just get frustrated when a good player seems to jump ship when given the opportunity. Greinke has been a recent exception. Unfortunately he’s not having as good of a season as he had last year, though that could be due in part to the talent around him I’m not really sure.

It’s not just the MLB rules that cause this though. Often times it is the selfishness of said players. Who are very easily persuaded to go to another team for mo money mo money. Now granted for most of us that is a logical decision. You are going to take a job with the employer willing to pay you the most. I get that, I do. But to me it shows a lack of team loyalty. A team is not going to get better if players aren’t around long enough to build anything successful. And sadly, once these players get that big check, many of them begin to slack off. This isn’t true only in baseball btw.. it’s all professional sports. But I’m sticking with baseball for the moment. This is why I’m not only for a salary cap, which I think is reasonable. I think there should be a player cap as well (I know will never happen). I mean most jobs top out at a certain pay rate, why not here? Then I believe you would find more players who play to play the game and play to win. Not play just so they can afford a 17th car and $4000 diamond necklace.

I’m not an avid follower of baseball as many of you obviously are. But now that I’m back in the area after spending the better part of the last decade on the east coast for the military, I am really trying to get into and follow the Royals again. As I said I am a fan, and I am sorry if this came off as a rant, I suppose it was a bit rant-ish.. heh. I’m not here to offend anybody, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the most knowledgeable in the subject of baseball. So far a few of you have provided me with some insight I was previously unaware of, and I thank you :). Just thought I’d share what I see as a casual fan…. hoping to become hardcore (with a lil help from you all.)

Guess we’ve gotten off topic a bit, but I thank you for not bashing me too hard.

by chiefs_fan83 on Jun 29, 2010 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Well, even though I understand it's a very open question,

I’m in your camp that some sort of salary cap (probably something like the NBA with an open cap and luxury tax) would be good for baseball. Just saying you’re not alone. (and that was more of a mini-rant; there have been MUCH bigger, much less coherent MLB pro/con salary cap rants)

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by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd be careful with

shows that despite….

Not only does a comment from him say this

J-Doug said…
I’ll actually be using a different methodology next week that completely contradicts this one. They both tell interesting stories. Stay tuned!
6/4/10 12:30 PM

But also this is a small, singular study that at best suggests that MLB is more competitively balanced (Part II gets at the “mobility” issue). As you note, "there is a significantly positive relationship between payroll inequality and competitive imbalance", which is what chiefs fan83 was getting at, albeit in rant form.

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by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions

don't know where I got mixed up

Part II makes the (weaker) point I was after, sorry about my confusion above:

“The point is that payroll effects are relatively weak—if at all significant—determinants of competitive balance.”

He hasn’t posted on the playoffs.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs and Beyond the Box Score.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jun 29, 2010 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions

I find this topic very interesting, but so far i

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by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions

think J-Doug's analysis is a bit muddled

At least it’s a good start, and he’s getting good feedback from people who seem to know what they’re doing. But with regression it’s so hard to fully trust the results unless they are beyond conclusive and/or you are 100% sure that your model is correct. The factors that make up competitive balance (salary cap, # of games, # of teams, # of players, guaranteed contracts, etc, etc.) are so vast that trying to isolate the reasons behind competitive imbalance is going to be a tall task.

Would you like to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or my blog...well you can't.

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I got mixed up with the payroll thing

which as he and others have shown, isn’t as significantly as people think

What I meant to emphasize was this:

So there you have it—based on win distributions, the MLB is clearly the most balanced American sports league, and the NFL the least balanced, contrary to popular opinion. This tells us that there is something inherent in baseball that is generating a great deal of fairness for the teams that play, regardless of payroll disparity. This also raises the possibility that Baseball’s “competitive balance problem” may be nothing more than a public relations problem (which isn’t insignificant, it’s just not a problem that can be fixed by modifying the distribution of payrolls).

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs and Beyond the Box Score.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jun 29, 2010 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah, and that is interesting

especially this

This tells us that there is something inherent in baseball that is generating a great deal of fairness for the teams that play, regardless of payroll disparity.

but where it gets easy to surmise and hard to prove is the “why”, and I don’t yet agree with this

it’s just not a problem that can be fixed by modifying the distribution of payrolls

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by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I assume you're retyping

but I had only briefly skimmed the series, and misunderstood it at first, which is why I misread/exaggerated the finding. It wasn’t intentional — my apologies all around.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs and Beyond the Box Score.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jun 29, 2010 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions

well, we can't read all of everything all the time

And part of my beef was that another pet peeve of mine lately (if I have so many “pet peeve”s at some point are they no longer pets, and just become "peeve"s?) is taking a preliminary analysis like J-Doug’s and running with it as if it is now set in stone (partly J-Doug’s fault in this case, since he makes some fairly black-and-white conclusions from his limited study). And not just in sabermetrics, but in news in general — the story about the runaway myth of “classical music makes babies smarter” was on NPR the other day where national policy (!) was changed based on a misinterpreted science paper and the successive telephone game where it got farther and farther from the truth.
Anyways, you’re really just an innocent bystander, but then again we’re on The Internet – Where Rants Happen.

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by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions

similar research has been done before, to be fair

to J-Doug, with similar results

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs and Beyond the Box Score.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jun 29, 2010 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions

That's true, and I'm subject to my own biases on what I think is

actually happening (not data-supported, of course)

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by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions

The nature of baseball makes it hard to judge.

The guaranteed contracts and as mentioned previously, the nature of the game.

Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball...Rock Chalk Talk

by Warden11 on Jun 29, 2010 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

I think the cure is to have more teams

in big market area to dilute the wealth of a single club.

Something like.. 1 team for each borough of NYC

by Yamfun Cheng Kamfun on Jun 29, 2010 12:00 PM EDT reply actions

I agree

NY used to have 3 teams, and could easily support 3 now. Yankees would never break up their billion dollar market share though.

by Andrew J Overton on Jun 29, 2010 5:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh another pointless lets bash Jose Guillen post when he's having his best year as a Royal

I said before the year he woudl have a good season (.340+ OBP, .450+ SL %) and posters still want to analyze his stats and bash him. Fantastic.

This isn’t a RR bias in any shape or form. Every time you want to bring up how horrible Guillen is lets talk about Gordon’s last 10 games. Nice .244 BA and .300 OBP those last 10 games. Yeah! Promote him now so he can hit .190 again!

KC = 3rd most bitter fanbase behind NYM & CHC

by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 29, 2010 12:54 PM EDT reply actions

At what point does the post bash Guillen?

He is just pointing out the interesting change is Guillen’s hitting since the blisters started affecting him. Or is Guillen bashing himself when he talks about his own blisters and how they’ve limited his power?

Would you like to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or my blog...well you can't.

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions

When you use sarcasm like this:

With talk of the Royals trying to trade Jose Guillen off, the Royals might find it hard to move him for a while. I know teams are clamoring for his defensive ability and great personality

I think it just might fall under the “bashing” category

by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 29, 2010 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

What about that is untrue?

Every report has the Royals trying to move Guillen very hard, but finding no takers. And he has a very well published past of being a headcase with defensive liabilities.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jun 29, 2010 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions

You're right, I totally missed that when I read through the intro.

The rest of the article seemed impartial, though.

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by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I was trying to get across that Jose's only useful trait is his offense.

If he could actually play any lick of defense and not be such a pain in the ass, he would be much easier to move.

- .-. ..- … – / – …. . / .—. .-. - .. . … …

by Jeff Zimmerman on Jun 29, 2010 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

He seems to have been on good behavior

maybe teams that haven’t had a problem with him in the past won’t worry so much about “attitude” for a half-season rental.

Would you like to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or my blog...well you can't.

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jun 29, 2010 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions

he hasn't had one issue in 3 years except for fans getting on him for not hustling and being a dick back

He was supposedly hurt not just dogging it.

For the record I’ve been harder on Moore for making the move for Guillen being who he is. THats the way it should be.

I don’t think you can just diss the player because our GM is an idiot

by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 30, 2010 5:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Other than the fight with McClure.

But I’m sure that happens to all players.

Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball...Rock Chalk Talk

by Warden11 on Jun 30, 2010 7:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah no excuses for that

Our bullpen is worth flipping out over though im surprised more people havent errupted

by GobbleforCyoung on Jul 1, 2010 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Sorry you feel that way about the bashing

I wasn’t looking to go after him. i just heard on the game the other night that he said they were affecting his power. I would have posted the results either way after spending the time to look into it.

- .-. ..- … – / – …. . / .—. .-. - .. . … …

by Jeff Zimmerman on Jun 29, 2010 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions

oh ok im quick to jump to conclusions because Guillen is overly hated my bad

Yes, he’s not that good and is overly paid. But we also have a #2 overall pick who has, so far, completely bombed, meanwhile a dozen guys taken after him have become franchise cornerstones (Zimmerman, Braun, Romero, McCutchen, etc)

by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 29, 2010 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Another pointless lets bash Alex Gordon post!

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jun 29, 2010 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Essentially Baseless, Too!

But I’ve given up trying to argue with Gordon bashers.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Jun 29, 2010 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions

He dont hitz no rbiz!!!!!

by kcbottom9th on Jun 29, 2010 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions

he's a remorseless smirker

…..by the way, did anyone catch Ryan last night, purring with self satisfied pleasure over DeJesus sac bunt in the 8th last night? No outs, runners on 1st and 2nd, and DeJesus sac bunts (allegedly, he maybe coulda been buntin for hits). Anywho, Ryan sounded like Hugh Hefner post coital….creeped me out.

by Nighthawk at the Diner on Jun 29, 2010 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Take your goggles off

There is no way to refute that Gordon has been a total disappointment so far, meanwhile several players picked after him have become cornerstones of their respective franchises. If people are going to needlessly bash Guillen for actually contributing to our major league club with the 3rd best OPS on the team, its fair to bash Gordon for not even contributing to the club, at all . Why can’t you get that?

I don’t live in KC. I don’t have to be loyal to him because he’s a “fellow midwest guy”. On two different occasions after telling someone I was a Royals fan I was asked, “Whats up with Gordon, what a ******* bust. I thought that guy would be good by now.”

by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 30, 2010 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions