Get Used To Guillen DHing
By Blake VandeBunte • Apr 6th, 2009 • Category: 2009 Season, Carlos Guillen, Josh AndersonWord has already come down that Carlos Guillen will be the Tigers designated hitter today. Over that past couple of seasons, Guillen has been bounced around all over the diamond. He started at short stop, made a quick stop at first base, moved to third base in 2008 and is penciled in to be the Tigers left fielder in 2009. Emphasis on penciled.
Apparently the newest Tiger, Josh Anderson, will be starting in left field today. Anderson is probably the superior defender out there and is definitely faster than Guillen. From the Detroit Free Press:
Tonight, leftfielder Carlos Guillen will be the DH. Guillen has had leg problems in past seasons, and manager Jim Leyland doesn’t want to overtax his legs on Toronto’s artificial turf. But Leyland also wants the speedy Anderson in the game. Speed can become precious in a low-scoring game, which is what right-handed starters Roy Halladay and Justin Verlander could produce tonight. Leyland picked the speed of Anderson for tonight’s lineup over the power of Marcus Thames and Jeff Larish.
What is not mentioned here is that Guillen has three years remaining on his contract. It’s not a good sign when precautions like this need to be made on Opening Day. Oh well. This is exactly why the Tigers had to get rid of Gary Sheffield. With Sheffield anchored at DH, Guillen would have had to play left field. However, with Sheffield now New York’s problem, the Tigers lineup has a lot more versatility. It will be fun to see the newest Tiger in action today.
Anderson will ninth in the lineup today, putting two speedsters next to each other in the lineup (Anderson and Granderson). Just picture it: Anderson on second and Granderson on first as Placido Polanco hits a gap shot to left field. Don’t you just love baseball?
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I would LOVE to see Guillen at DH more often than not. He’s still a good hitter; he might just be too fragile these days to play in the field.
It’s not a good sign when precautions like this need to be made on Opening Day
Well, but any other day than opening day, it would be obvious that (1) Torornto has a bad playing surface, and (2) it’s going to be cold . . . so its an obvious time to rest the LF with bad legs, even if he’s going to get, say, 150 starts at LF in the course of the season . . .
Rea, I’ll bet you all the money I make from this site that Guillen does not start 150 games in LF this season. Not close. Sure, astroturf is not great for players, but it’s not like it’s just bad for Guillen. His body makes these sorts of moves necessary, that’s very telling about how healthy this guy really is.
Not only will Guillen not get 150 starts in LF, he won’t get 150 starts period. He has played in 150 games only 2x in his career. In those years he started 144 and 148 games. If he starts 150 games than look for a monster season from Guillen, but I just don’t see it.
Yeah, I have no confidence that he’ll even start 150 games in LF over the next two years. He just isn’t equipped to handle that position. He’s still a good hitter, but he can’t hack it on D.
Rea, I’ll bet you all the money I make from this site that Guillen does not start 150 games in LF this season. Not close.
Well, but of course, I picked a ridiculously high number, to avoid jinxing him.
That’s good thinking. Also, this site makes me no money. There was very little risk on my end.