Recently signed Kansas City outfielder Jose Guillen and Baltimore outfielder Jay Gibbons have been suspended for the first 15 days of the 2008 season for “violating baseball’s drug policy.” The issue is human growth hormone. Others accused of such violations but not suspended include Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus, Gary Matthews Jr., and Scott Schoeneweis.
Guillen is filing a grievance, while Gibbons is accepting his fate as-is.
Guillen, you may recall, just signed with the Royals for beaucoup bucks. It will be interesting to see how his signing and subsequent suspension affect Mike Cameron, who will miss the first 25 games of ‘08 …read more

The Kansas City Royals have signed outfielder Jose Guillen to a 3-year, $36 million deal. Among other things, this probably forces the Royals to move one of David DeJesus of Joey Gathright, which doesn’t strike me as the best course of action for a team that should be rebuilding.
Guillen also may be facing a PED-related suspension. As I note in today’s hot stove round table over at Hardball Times, I have no clue why Kansas City would make this move. I’m trying to understand it, and I really can’t.

Somehow I got out of the habit of doing these. With the pennant races heating up, I reckon it’s time to bust out the previews again:
American League

Mariners at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT — How are the Mariners doing it? Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre, and Jose Guillen all are having decent (not great) seasons on offense. The starting pitching has been okay. The relief pitching has been pretty darned good. They score about as many runs as they give up, and yet, they’re a game out of the AL wild card. Felix Hernandez starts tonight, which is always a good reason …read more