Will Jose Guillen ever amount to anything in kc

Jose Guillen has been a HUGE bust this year. It's still early and he has the tallent, but he hasn't been impressive on either side of the ball, at least not in my opinion. I've seen him miss read balls in the outfield, and seem lacksidasical in his effort in trying to get to some balls that could have been caught.

I thought that it was great that the Royals could get out from under the weight of Mike Sweeneys big money with the end of his contract, but you never had to question his effort. He just couldn't stay healthy.

I've never been crazy about the Guillen signing from the get-go.  What's his career best in home runs?  25 or so?  well thats about 20 if the K is your home ball park.  He's never hit for a gaudy average and those rbi's hes posted ???   Well he had the MLB's best leadoff hitter,  Ichiro usually standing at 2nd or 3rd when he came  to bat.  Now we know he has juiced in the past.  Being off the juice, don't you think his numbers/ability may start to decline now?  I've never considered Guillen any more than an average major league outfielder with a good arm and decent pop.  I don't think that warrants $12M a year.  I would just as soon seen the Royals start the season with Huber or Meier in left field, left Teahen in right and put Guillen's salary go towards player development or towards a mid-season acquisition if the Royals got hot and happened to be in contention. 

Huber is off to a great start this year, but he only has a handful of at-bats. Even Emil Brown looks like a better option than Guillen right now.  I will reserve judgment on Guillen until the all-star break.

To answer your question, here are Guillen's highest HR totals:

2003 - 31 HR
2004 - 27 HR
2005 - 24 HR

It's easy to point to the juice after looking at those numbers.  In his defense, however, he did come up with 23 last year.  He's had a few years when he's struggled to stay healthy, but it seems that his numbers have been fairly respectable when he does.  I don't see him as a 25+ HR guy this year.  I think KC would be lucky to get 20 out of him, especially with his slow start.  If he could just bring his average up a bit, he would be so much valuable to this team because of where he hits in the lineup.