Tiger Sighting: Carlos Guillen FInally Playing Winter Ball

According to a Free Press report, Carlos Guillen has now played in four games for Navegantes del Magallanes in the Venezuelan Winter League.

He's 5 for 16, with at least one appearance in left field, and at least one at short.  The bad news is he's got two errors in four appearances, a fielding error in left, and a throwing error from short.

Let's hope that's just some rust.   Word is he'll play only a few more games in winter ball.

I really like Carlos Guillen.  He's tougher than nails.  I mean, who plays through tuberculosis?  I'm down for the count with the common cold.  He's out there hacking up a lung, and still taking the field.

Also, he's a quiet leader.  Ever notice his presence in the infield, giving a quick, calming word to pitchers?

Then, he spoke up on some issues.  He confirmed Sheffield's rather caddish comments about MLB controlling Latin players.  I was rather shocked when the MLB uniform police took him to task for having his pockets hanging out, threatening to fine him for every occurrence.  What was that?  Isn't there more pressing baseball business than making sure everyone's pockets are tucked in???  Then, he took on the Venezuelan World Baseball Classic team, nudging officials to get their act together so other Venezuelan nationals would represent the team this year.

I'm hoping he plays well in left until that DH spot opens up, because he's such a quality guy, and his offense is consistently valuable.

Carlos Guillen a member of team Magallanes?

Carlos Guillen is now listed on the Venezuelan Winter Ball roster for Navegantes del Magallanes.  His position is listed as first base!?   Jason Beck had initially reported in his blog on November 10 that there was a story out in the Venezuelan paper El Universal that Guillen wanted to play winter ball.  I haven't seen any follow up on this, but his name is now listed on the Magallanes roster, but without a jersey number.   He also does not yet have any stats, so it appears he has not yet played.  According to Beck, the story was that Guillen wanted to prepare both for his (yet another) new position with the Tigers in left next year, and for the World Baseball Classic.  Also, Beck said that Dombrowksi hadn't heard from Guillen with a request for approval to play (he would need permission from the Tigers to play).

The Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional runs through December 30, so Guillen would be playing for just over a month.  If he's playing at first, this does nothing to help him prepare for next year with the Tigers.  The Tigers do not have control over the position played in a winter ball league, from what I can tell (I read this somewhere, but couldn't put my finger on it now). 

Side note, Freddy Garcia is also on the Magallanes roster, number 60.   No appearances yet as far as I can see.  The Tigers have had no talks at all with Freddy, so I guess they're waiting to see how he does in winter ball.    Other teams have expressed interest according to MLB.com (none specifically named).  If he does well, I think the Tigers should try to sign him to a reasonable contract.   We've got to get some bargains, and from what we saw of him last year, combined with a good performance in winter ball, I'd say he'd be as a good a gamble as any for the price.

Winter Ball Update

The Dominican Winter League, or more properly (and way more fun to say) Liga de Beisbol Dominicano, features several of our own:

Timo Perez - Licey, .407 AVG, .686 SLG, 1.162 OPS

Ramon Santiago - Gigantes, .353 AVG, .441 SLG, .905 OPS

Brent Clevelen - Escogido, .256 AVG, .316 SLG, .663 OPS

Timo and Ramon are performing well so far over a small sample size (10-15 games appearances).

Pitchers Aquilino Lopez and former Tiger Francisco Cruceta are also in the DWL.

Cruceta:  2.89 ERA, 9.1 IP, 1.29 WHIP

Lopez:  1.13. ERA, 8 IP, 0.75 WHIP

All I can say is I wish I could travel to one of the winter ball league games (sigh).  Already pining for baseball, and it's only November.

Why is Willis NOT in Winter Ball?

This is a bit of old news, but I've really been wondering about it.  Near the end of the season, Jim Leyland said he'd like to see Willis pitch in winter ball.   Willis' outings seemed to confirm the need.  He didn't exactly perform in a way that inspired glowing confidence.

I was impressed that Willis very willingly went down to A ball.  It made sense to get him away from the media scrutiny, but he had to agree to do it.  It was the right thing to do, sure, considering his walk-tastic, wild beyond description performances.  But doing the right thing is no gimme with athletes.  It's so much easier to just do what suits them best, or what makes sense to their sometimes over-sized egos, especially when the $ are guaranteed.  So, he gets bonus points for manning up and playing A ball.

On September 23, in a piece written by Tigers.com beat writer Jason Beck, Dontrelle said he was open to winter ball.  Then, in a Freep article published on September 29, Dontrelle was quoted as saying he had no plans to participate in any winter leagues.  It was very cryptic, with no other information given.

I've seen nothing else on this.  No commentary from Leyland or management, zip.  I'm sorry, but could someone tell me what the crust is going on here?  I would like to know why Willis is not going to winter ball, and whether there was a big dustup within the organization over it.