Ticking Timebomb Guillen Sounds Off

In no particular order: Guillen throws Nationals' medical staff under the bus, throws down the gauntlet to Soriano, complains about the fences at RFK,  tells Jim to fix the Vidro/Soriano mess at second base, hints that he might be ready for Opening Day (but maybe not), and talks about negotiating a new contract.

"It was pretty ugly. I saw the pictures...It was not a slight tear, like [the team's medical staff] said. It was pretty much broken in half. . . . I was kind of mad at those guys, because they should know what was going on in there. But I really blame myself, because I was the one who wanted to keep playing."

...

"Everybody knows about this ballpark, how many home runs I lost there...I'd like to see somebody [*cough*cough*Soriano*cough*] coming from another team [where he has hit] 40 home runs -- let's see how many home runs they hit here. I'm not going to mention no one's names [*cough*Soriano]. But just come here. And we'll see who has the real power here."

(Jose Guillen, via Washington Post, 2/17/2006)

But it gets worse. How about this gem from Bowden?

"We'd like to lock up all three of our big potential free agents -- Jose Guillen, Alfonso Soriano and Nick Johnson" (Jim Bowden, via Washington Post, 2/17/2006)

Memo to Bud: Please get an owner in here quick.

Comments

[SomeGuy]

Guillen is either schizophrenic, retarded, misunderstood, or smarter than us all.

First he says he's upset with the medical staff for not knowing when he first hurt his shoulder that the tendon was torn in half. Then he says it's his fault for continuing to play on it. Kudos to him for being a man and playing hard for the team (Note to Ryan Church: don't be afraid to play with a hangnail kiddo). But don't you think playing on a bad shoulder for the whole season might have made the tear worse? Resulting in it being torn in half when he had surgery?

Second, he says he's still healing, so he can't guarantee that he'll play opening day. But then in the same breath says everyone knows he will.

Third, he says he doesn't want any controversies with the team this year, after just calling Soriano out.

I have no clue what to expect from Guillen. I think he's outsmarted me. I'll be real happy if he plays on opening day, but if he doesn't I'll wishing he heals quickly. He's masterful.

And you know what? I'm thankful for it. I'm glad we have some personality on the team. With Guillen and Hernandez, no one can really ever understand what those two mean. Hernandez will say he's shutting it down for the rest of the season, and then go pitch a two-hit shutout and get a no decision.

Thanks guys, bring on some more "Nationals Non Sequitors"

[ck]

We're in agreement, SomeGuy. Guillen is absolutely intriguing - I couldn't believe some of the quotes - and I have no idea what to make of him calling out Soriano. What is that? The easy thing to miss is the fact that he was in camp before, well, everybody. He works harder than anyone, and he wants to make sure you know it.