Plan B: Jose Guillen

According to Adam Rubin of the Daily News, the Mets’ “Plan B” for a power-hitting left fielder is Jose Guillen.

No, that is not a joke.

The Mets have been linked to Guillen before, as Omar Minaya seems to have a fascination with the volatile and sullen slugger. It didn’t make sense to obtain him a year ago, and it makes less sense now, for the same reasons.

Before, it didn’t make sense because Guillen was both physically and emotionally fragile, had a reputation for causing problems in the clubhouse, and therefore wasn’t worth the expense nor the heartache he would inevitably incur. My argument then was this: if you are going to use personality issues as an excuse not to sign the best righthanded hitter and RBI man in the game — Manny Ramirez — then why in the world would you look into acquiring Jose Guillen, who is less skilled and carries more baggage?

But of course we know the answer to that — it had nothing to do with “Manny Being Manny”, but rather, “Manny Getting Multimillions”.

Don’t take that the wrong way — the Wilpons are far from cheap, as witnessed by the Mets having the second-highest payroll in the game. A better descriptor: penny wise and pound foolish.

Actually, there are two differences between last year and this year when it comes to Guillen. Number one: last year Guillen was coming off two consecutive healthy seasons, whereas this year, he’s coming off an injury-riddled year, marked by torn ligaments in his knee and hamstring woes. Number two: last year it was unclear whether the Royals were willing to take on salary when dumping Guillen — in fact, the supposed Luis Castillo – Guillen deal was likely to have the Mets eating some of Castillo’s salary. This time around, however, the Royals appear willing to include cash in a deal that rids them of the eternal enigma (though, they’d want a “cheap outfielder” in return, such as Angel Pagan). With only one year commitment, and some of his $12M salary paid by KC, Guillen looks like a better gamble to some in the Mets’ front office.

What do you think — more penny wise, pound foolish thinking? Post your comments below.

(BTW: Hat tip to “isuzudude” for the link.)