MLB Trade Rumors: Royals Have Plenty Of Suitors For Jose Guillen As Deadline Approaches

While the injury to David DeJesus robbed the outfielder of the rest of his season, it also took another tradeable commodity off the market for the Kansas City Royals as the MLB trade deadline approaches.

Fortunately for Royals management, they’ve still got Jose Guillen in the outfield. ... for now.

Various sources have the Yankees, Red Sox, Padres, Mets and Giants showing interest in the streaky and cantankerous outfielder.

You should probably add the Detroit Tigers to that list as well. Over the weekend, they lost Magglio Ordonez for the rest of the season and Carlos Guillen indefinitely.

As Brian Goodman over at SB Nation Kansas City says in his breakdown:

Guillen could be appealing for [Tigers president Dave] Dombrowski because he’s a short-term rental, and with Guillen having spent his most recent time in the AL Central, he should have a good feel for the tendencies of the division’s pitchers.

One name the Tigers are rumored to be pursuing, according to the Detroit Free Press, is Adam Dunn, the slugging Washington Nationals first baseman who used to play in the outfield. The Nationals, however, could end up keeping their team together.

Jose Guillen, meanwhile, got off to a hot start and is having a decent season for the Royals, who are his ninth major league team in 14 seasons. He’s proven to be ... difficult, shall we say, over the years. But when healthy and focused, he’s proven that he can be a spark plug for any team’s offense, and he’s got a cannon of an arm in right field. On Saturday in New York, Guillen homered and knocked in two runs as the Royals beat the Yankees. With 16 home runs through Sunday, he could approach the career-high of 31 he set in 2003, which he of course spent with two teams: Cincinnati and Oakland.

Of course, the Royals could do something on a grander scale, with Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore getting together with New York Mets GM Omar Minaya on a deal that would probably make the Internet explode. According to Ken Rosenthal, a potential Royals-Mets swap could include Guillen, pitcher Gil Meche and reliever Kyle Farnsworth from Kansas City and pitcher Oliver Perez, second baseman Luis Castillo and outfielder Jeff Francoeur from New York.