K.C. Star: Posnanski: This Guillen deal is hard to understand

Not really, Babelfrisking: Suitcase Guillen = Maleta Guillen.

No, my problem is that Jose Guillen is on his ninth major-league team in 10 years, he strikes out three times more often than he walks, he can’t run, he’s no more than an average outfielder, and, most of all, he’s going to be 32 years old in May, the precise age when, history has shown time and again, players like Jose Guillen begin their descent.

Rob Neyer, the fine ESPN.com baseball writer and Royals fan, remembers 16 years ago when the Royals traded to get left fielder Kevin McReynolds. Neyer was working for the brilliant author Bill James at the time, and Neyer told James that he was psyched up about the move. Bill, being Bill, proceeded to go into a back room for a few minutes. He returned with a long, depressing printout that showed, pretty clearly, why McReynolds was about to tank.

McReynolds was 32 years old. His numbers then were eerily similar to Guillen’s numbers now. He (as Neyer and any other longtime Royals fan can tell you) tanked.

...The difference here is that Dayton Moore has shown good sense. He has taken this team in a clear direction in his year and a half. He has been right so far more times than he has been wrong. I’m still with him. If he says Guillen will do the job, hey, it’s December, and I’m a positive guy. I just got a Bill James e-mail, probably about this trade. I’m not even going to open it.