Saturday, July 5, 2008

José Guillén has been gone from Washington for a year and a half now, but he's still plugged in. He talks occasionally with holdover friends in the Nationals' clubhouse to get the latest scoop -- which lately, he said, has been a lot of behind-the-scenes intrigue and turmoil -- and he heard from Nationals GM Jim Bowden as recently as last winter, when Bowden felt him out about re-signing here as a free agent.

The conversation lasted about as long as it took Guillén to inform Bowden how much money it would take.

"How's Manny doing?" Guillén said last week about old friend Manny Acta. "Tell him to be tougher on those [players]. He needs to kick their [butts]. Tell him I said that."

Anything for you, José.

Midway through his 12th big league season and now playing for the Kansas City Royals -- his ninth big league team -- Guillén, 32, has recovered from a slow start to produce borderline all-star numbers, including 64 RBI and 28 doubles, both of which ranked second in the AL entering the weekend.

The combustible Guillén typically requires several months with a new franchise before controversy arises, but in Kansas City it occurred within days of his signing a three-year, $36 million contract in December, when he received a 15-day suspension for using human growth hormone -- a suspension that was later rescinded.

On top of that, he reported to spring training about 25 pounds overweight, fostering the awful start that saw him bat just .183 in April.

"It was hard the first month," Guillén said last week. "Not because of the [HGH revelations], but the struggles. I know what type of hitter I am. I kept telling my teammates and my manager: 'Don't worry about me. José Guillén will be fine. When the time comes, I'm going to come through.' "

Of the HGH use, Guillén said it was merely an attempt to return from injury. "I know what I did," he said, "and in that situation, I bet a lot of players would have done the same thing. I didn't do anything illegal. I had [a prescription] from my doctor -- trying to heal faster from injuries that I had. I'm always the type of player who wants to play."