According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Mariners are close to completing a three-year contract extension with right fielder Jose Guillen. The deal would replace Guillen’s ’08 option, running from 2008-10. Guillen’s bounced back from Tommy John surgery to hit .293/.360/.467 with 19 HR and 83 RBIs so far this year.
Geoff Baker said recently that the Eric Byrnes contract might serve as a model, so Guillen might be in line for about $30MM. As I mentioned in this post, Wladimir Balentien seems to be the odd man out in Seattle’s outfield. And in order to give Adam Jones a regular job next year, Raul Ibanez, Jose Vidro, and Richie Sexson would have to rotate between the first base and DH spots. More likely, Jones doesn’t play every day unless someone gets hurt. Remember, the Ms had a chance to dump off Sexson’s contract and chose not to.
U.S.S. Mariner doesn’t like the idea of a Guillen extension.