The Bad History of Jose Guillen

Today, Jose Guillen is crushing the ball for Arte Moreno’s suddenly sexy Angels. Had we played our cards right, that would be a Pirates uniform in that picture. Guillen is yet another data point in the miserable failure that was the Pirates’ handling of young position players under Bonifay. Guillen still has the execrable plate discipline that we associate with all the Bonifay prospects, but man, can he rake. So as not to repeat this kind of history, let’s take a closer look at it.

In mid-July 1999, Bonifay traded him to his old friend, Chuck LaMar, GM of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Guillen was 23 years old. In 1997, he went straight from A ball to the majors and was good in the first season and exactly the same – no improvement – in the second. The 1998 Pirates finished with 69 wins. They had one good hitter – Kendall – and three good pitchers. Let’s review: C, Kendall, 1B, Kevin Young, 2B, Tony Womack, 3B, Fernando Tatis Aramis Ramirez, SS, Lou Collier, LF, Al Martin, CF, Jermaine Allensworth, RF, Guillen. 120 at-bats into 1999, Bonifay gave up on him. The 1999 team was C Kendall (and replacements), 1B Kevin Young, 2B Warren Morris, 3B Ed Sprague, SS Mike Benjamin, LF Al Martin, CF Brian Giles, RF Guillen/Adrian Brown. That team won 78 games.

Only Tony Womack had more at-bats for the 1998 team so, as the Pirates appeared to be turning a corner, perhaps it was Guillen that Bonifay associated with Losing. Bonifay (like many people) also thought Guillen had attitude problems. Granted, he was 5 for 12 in SB attempts, and parts of his game need work in frustrating kind of way. But what 23-year-old doesn’t have attitude problems? Guillen failed to meet some pretty unrealistic expectations, and he was scapegoated as the unimproving fixture in a lineup that won only 69 games.

So, Warren Morris is wildly exceeding expectations and the Bucs are looking good. And Kendall goes down with that horrific injury I will never, ever erase from my mind. They are right around or below .500 and about eight games behind the Houston Astros. Bonifay trades Jose Guillen, who has lost his job to the great Adrian Brown, to Tampa Bay for Joe Oliver and Humberto Cota.

Of course, not all Pirates fans shared Bonifay’s sense that the unimproving Guillen was the weak link in the 1998 or 1999 lineups, and this trade was a groaner. Joe Oliver? He finished the season with a 538 OPS over 45 games. Keith Osik caught 50 games and finished 1999 with a 490 OPS. The Pirates had Tim Laker at Nashville, but probably over a game of golf, Bonifay lent his ear to LaMar and was persuaded that he owed it to the team to get Joe Oliver.

Bob Smizik was there when someone insinuated that Bonifay had been robbed, and he wrote about it in a snarky essay for the PG. Smizik:

Bonifay got his back up a bit when it was suggested he was snookered in the trade that sent Cota and Oliver, who joined the Pirates Friday in Montreal, for Guillen and pitcher Jeff Sparks, nothing more than a throw-in.

"Last year we gave up a starter who was in our rotation [Esteban Loaiza] for a pitcher and a second baseman [Warren Morris], who was a Class AA, and now he's our starting second baseman."

And a darn good one. That trade, thus far, has been an outrageous steal for the Pirates. But it's hardly the same as this one. Loaiza, despite a good arm, never had the kind of star potential that Guillen once - or still does possess.

Estaban Loaiza for Warren Morris. A darn good one … the irony, oh man, it hurts. Must … find … liquor.

If I remember correctly, Warren Morris had a strong year at AA (for the Rangers and the Bucs) in 1998 before jumping (with Kris Benson) into the opening-day lineup. He didn’t face much competition at Bradenton, beating out NRI Rafael Bournigal for the job. He gave a lot in 1999, but he took away just as much in 2000. Under serious pressure to repeat or improve on his freshman-year breakout, Morris, the fresh face of the 2000 Pirates, suffered a sophomore slump that more or less ruined his career as a future All-Star.

Am I the only one who is encouraged by the fact that J.J. Davis is 25?

Can we change the subject? Did I mention that Estaban Loaiza turns up as a "most similar pitcher" for Brian Meadows at baseball-reference.com?