Giants add depth to roster with trade for Jose Guillen
With playoff positions on the line, teams are doing whatever they can to improve their roster for the stretch run of the season. Friday, the San Francisco Giants added some depth by announcing that they had traded for outfielder Jose Guillen from the Kansas City Royals.
Guillen is expected to join the team prior to the beginning of a three-game series between the Giants and their division rival, the San Diego Padres. The Padres have been sitting on top of the division for most of the season and currently hold a two and a half game lead over the Giants.
Earlier this week, Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez guaranteed a sweep of the Padres during their weekend series; Sanchez made the comment after pitching four innings in a loss to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
In Guillen the Giants add some experience and depth to their outfield. Two of the current starters, Andres Torres and Nate Schierholtz, are young; Schierholz is working on his second season with significant playing time while Torres has played more this season then the last three combined.
The Giants may be looking to give their starting outfield some rest without losing ground in the NL West; center fielder Aaron Rowand has been injury prone throughout his career and has only played in 88 games this year as of 12 August.
For the Royals Guillen hit .255 with 16 home runs and 62 RBIs in 106 games. He was designated for assignment on 5 August which meant the team would have had to release him after 10 days had they not traded him.
Kansas City will get a player to be named later and cash from the Giants for Guillen. The Giants will be his fourth team in six seasons and 10th of his career. It will be up to time to tell how much Guillen will affect the San Francisco club's fortunes the rest of the year.
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