Rumors: Vladimir Guerrero not close to signing

According to Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports, Vladimir Guerrero is not close to signing with a team yet. He was signed earlier by the Toronto Blue Jays, but the veteran OF/DH asked for his release after eight minor league games. He was hitting .303, but it seemed like he was frustrated with staying in the minors and not going up to the big league club.

Vladimir Guerrero has always been known as a free swinger, but his free-swinging ways have become even more apparent and have hurt his value. Guerrero wasn’t patient at all in his MiLB stint with the Jays, and he is coming off of an extremely low 3 BB% in 2011. That is as low as it gets, and it contributed to a slide in OBP to .317- the lowest of his career.

The severe drop in walks has greatly hurt Guerrero’s value, and he was a replacement level player last season due to this. The designated hitter’s offense was under the league average for the first time in his career. He should do better this season and was worth 1.7 WAR with a good 119 wRC+ in 2010, so he can be worth one win for a team.

It will be interesting to see who takes a chance on Vladimir Guerrero, who is basically a veteran with some contact and pop left which makes him an above-average hitter in terms of contact/power. But when you put patience into the equation, it is evident that Guerrero is a mediocre hitter at this point. When positional value is factored in- his defense is too poor for the outfield- he is a below-average player. Guerrero can still be a good veteran backup, and that’s his true value at this point.

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