According to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes, the Royals and Orioles are the frontrunners to sign free agent outfielder Jose Guillen. That link is in Spanish so feel free to correct me if my translation is off. The article was published on November 18th.
Rojas reports that eight teams have shown interest in signing Guillen to a multiyear deal. We knew the Royals were dead set on Guillen; the Orioles part is new to me. The O’s already have Nick Markakis in right, so perhaps Guillen would be used in left. Sounds like he’s pretty popular despite the steroid revelations. Maybe he’ll get that three-year, $30MM deal after all.
There have been some reports floating around that a contract with the Royals was imminent, but that does not appear to be accurate based on the conversations I’ve had. Nonetheless the Royals figure to win this thing; Guillen is their top priority now that Torii Hunter is off the board.
