Jose Guillen Tied To HGH Investigation

Jose Guillen has been linked to a federal investigation involving shipments of human growth hormone sent to Guillen's wife, reports Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times.  Guillen's involvement was brought to the attention of Major League Baseball before the playoffs began, and after the commissioner's office conducted an investigation of its own into the matter, it was suggested to the Giants that Guillen be left off of San Francisco's postseason roster.  His absence obviously hasn't hurt the club thus far; in fact, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle points out in a tweet, Guillen "might've played over [Cody] Ross."

The Giants acquired Guillen from the Royals in August.  In 139 plate appearances, the outfielder contributed a .266/.317/.375 line to San Francisco's push to the NL West crown.  Guillen wasn't likely to draw much interest on the free agent market this winter given his declining production, increasingly terrible defense and history of attitude problems, but the spectre of this investgation might drop his chances of a 2011 contract from slim to none.