A few weeks ago, Jose Guillen called over all the reporters in the clubhouse.
He had something to say, but before he started, a member of the Royals' media relations staff asked Guillen to be honest, to speak his mind, but, please, just keep it clean.
"(Expletive) that," Guillen said. "I'll say whatever the (expletive) I want to say."
This was how the expletive-the-fans rant started. Guillen didn't mean it the way it came out, he got defensive with all the cameras and microphones, it felt like he was putting on a bit of a show, and there may have been some leading questions in there, too.
But Guillen never backed down from it. Later, with the cameras and mics gone, he explained himself a little better, admitted that, yes, he does care about the fans (probably a little too much if you want to know the truth), and that it hurts to get booed.
And he put his name on all of it.
No cries of quotes being taken out of context, none of that.
That's Guillen's pattern, his M.O., his style, and it's why I'm skeptical of the ESPN Deportes report that he wants out of Kansas City.
Especially because Guillen puts his name on his denials.
"I don't want out of Kansas City," he told Dutton. "That's not true. I don't have a problem with Trey. That didn't come from me. If you hear it from me, then you know it's a fact -- but it didn't come from me."
One of the things that's consistently caused Guillen PR problems is that he has no filter. He says what he feels.
Nothing he's said, from the babies rant, to the fans rant -- none of it -- is anything other players in his situation would think. The different is, they wouldn't say it, at least not to reporters.
Guillen says those things, and it's caused him some trouble, but both professionally and personally, I love the fact that he's willing to say what's on his mind.
Now, I do believe there have been some issues between Guillen and Hillman. But nothing they can't work through, or haven't already.
It's hard to know exactly where these things come from, but it's easy to imagine a scenario where Guillen said something in frustration to a friend, who made his/her own assumptions, and said something to this reporter, who has a long-standing relationship with Guillen.
We know it hasn't been all laughs and hugs with Guillen in Kansas City. That's been well-documented.
When he and his wife picked out a house near the Plaza, they were about to write the deposit check when their car (and Guillen's wife's purse inside it) were stolen.
Since then, things have usually been a bit better, but he's still been booed at home, got off to a terrible start, called lazy, fat, a prima donna, and lost way more games than he'd like.
He's been hurt, tried to play through it, and listened to people question just how bad he's hurt in the first place.
I can see where he'd be pissed, where he'd have thoughts of playing somewhere else. But to use this back-channel, anonymous source route to tell people he wants out?
And then to deny it when his history is putting his name on what he says? I just don't see it.
The funny thing about the latest controversy around Guillen is that it's apparently none of his doing. There will probably be some around KC who blame him for this. That's to be expected, but if you believe Guillen's words or his long track record, it's unfair.
He deserved the criticism for his slow start, because he makes the most money and especially because he showed up to camp overweight. He deserved the criticism for the "eff the fans" rant, though he quickly apologized for that one. He's even fair game for the babies rant, though I'm sticking with the opinion that the Royals need the occasional butt-kicking like that.
But for a friend or relative to pop off anonymously to a reporter like that? Or worse, that the message was stretched? That's not Guillen's fault.
All this could be wrong, of course. My assumptions and gut feeling and looking at the guy's track record could be the opposite of the truth.
Maybe Guillen really does want out. Maybe he wants to play for a contender, doesn't see the Royals making the progress he expected, and regrets signing a three-year deal in Kansas City.
Maybe all of that has him wanting a trade, maybe he'd give up half his salary to make it happen (though the union would never allow something like that), and floated this story knowing he'd deny it when asked.
But if that's what's happening here, it's a significant change from the way Guillen's operated since joining the Royals and before.
Here's the thing I don't understand when fans are defending Guillen's antisocial and unprofessional behavior. Guillen is a really bad baseball player. He'd be a bad value at $4 million a year, and he's a horrific value at $12 million a year.
For 2008, Jose Guillen has -7.1 batting runs, and -0.7 batting wins. These numbers are normed to the major league average, so his negative numbers mean he's below average.
A number of posters have argued that Royals fans are whiners and that as soon as the Royals get a "winner" in town, they cry because the guy needs to drop F-bombs to show he cares. Okay, let's look at where this "winner" ranks on the Royals this year in his batting contributions.
David DeJesus 7.6 (btruns) 0.7 (btwins)
Mike Aviles 5.9, 0.6
Mark Grudzielanek -0.8, -0.1
Alex Gordon -1.0, -0.1
John Buck -3.2, -0.3
Miguel Olivo -4.4, -0.4
Billy Butler -5.9, -0.6
Esteban German -5.9, -0.6
Jose Guillen -7.1, -0.7
Mark Teahen -8.5, -0.8
That's right. The "winner" has worse numbers than the catchers. Worse numbers than Esteban German. Worse numbers than Billy Butler who was so bad he was demoted. And barely better numbers than Mark Teahen who has been so bad most fans now want him to be cut.
It's time people stop making excuses for Jose Guillen and realize that he is, in Rany's words, "A Swirling Vortex of Suck". Oh, maybe his numbers are just suffering from injury. Okay, so his career numbers probably show what a great investment he is.
Whoops. Jose Guillen has a career line of -12.4 batting runs and -1.2 batting wins. That means even before Jose Guillen came to the Royals and had a gawd-awful season, he was A BELOW AVERAGE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER. That's right, the Royals signed a guy to a $36 million dollar contract who's not only a jerk, he's a lousy baseball player.
Well, maybe the "league average" is pulled up so much by players like Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, that "average" really represents a pretty high level of play. Okay, who would be a good Royal to check on their career stats. Somebody who pretty much screams out average if somewhat underwhelming. Somebody who, until this year, was something of a minor disappointment. How about David DeJesus.
David DeJesus's career numbers are 15.6 batting runs, 1.5 batting wins. Yes, David DeJesus is a little bit more above average than Jose Guillen is below average.
Maybe if DeJesus wants to be taken seriously as a "winner" he should start acting as unprofessionally as Jose Guillen.
As baseball fans and Royals fans, we can blame Jose Guillen for all the nonsense he's pulled this year, and we can also be very skeptical about his well-documented belligerence at ALMOST EVERY OTHER PLACE HE'S PLAYED. We can be skeptical of the few good stats he's had since there is well-documented evidence of his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
As Royals fans, we don't need to make any more excuses for Jose Guillen, and we don't need to make any more excuses for Dayton Moore's positional player acquisitions.
By the way, the batting runs/batting wins numbers for three other Moore acquisitions who've somehow seen a lot of plate appearances are:
Ross Gload -10.7, -1.0
Joey Gathright -17.1, -1.7
Tony Pena Jr. -27.4, -2.7
If you like Jose Guillen's behavior, fine. But don't try to conflate being an absolute punk with being a "winner". It demeans the idea of actually being a winner, and it demeans the idea of being a fan.