Guillen Has Injury, Contract on His Mind. (POST)

[JMW IV]

Washington Post

VIERA, Fla., Feb. 16 -- Jose Guillen is a guy you want to keep happy. Other teams have seen what has happened when he is unhappy, and it is messy. The Washington Nationals, however, don't have to worry yet. As Guillen sat in the team's near-empty clubhouse Thursday morning at Space Coast Stadium, following another lonely workout on his way back from offseason shoulder surgery, an occasional smile still crept across his face. But from where this Guillen sat, it was possible to see that Guillen lurking menacingly in the distance.

What could the Nationals do to make Guillen happy? Acknowledge to the fans how much pain he played in late last season, as the team fought to stay in playoff contention. Fix the potentially combustible lineup issue between second basemen Jose Vidro and Alfonso Soriano. Maybe move in the fences at RFK Stadium, so his blasts no longer die at the warning track. And show him the love -- soon -- with an offer for a contract extension that validates his status as a franchise cornerstone.
   
"I don't want to negotiate this during the season," said Guillen, who is eligible for free agency after this season. "I won't do it."

Neither Guillen nor Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden cared to discuss the status of talks between the sides on a contract extension for Guillen, who is making $4 million this season. But Guillen's agent had a late-morning meeting with Bowden in the GM's office, and there is a willingness on both sides to keep talking.

"We'd like to lock up all three of our big potential free agents -- Jose Guillen, Alfonso Soriano and Nick Johnson," Bowden said. "But I don't want to discuss it, because I don't want to open spring training with a distraction. We have enough distractions."

Two days before the Nationals' camp officially opens, and a full week before position players are to report, Guillen was there bright and early, lifting weights, running laps around the warning track and doing strengthening exercises for his shoulder. He has been in Viera for two weeks now, rehabbing alone, working to get himself ready for the only date that matters for him right now: April 3, Opening Day.

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