The move had been rumored for a while, so when it was announced Friday that plans were in place for the Baltimore Orioles to ink Vladimir Guerrero…no one should have been surprised.
The surprising part of the whole thing…the Orioles have had, quietly, a fantastic off season.
Seriously…an off season like the one that had makes the paltry efforts of division foes, the New York Yankees, look comical.
Now, the beleaguered O’s won’t compete in the American League East (that job belongs to the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays), but they’ll beat up on some of the other American League teams.
Consider this…by signing Guerrero, Baltimore is adding a pretty sizable bat to a lineup that already added some bulk in the form of Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee and J.J. Hardy. And at only 35 (he’ll turn 36 next week), dude is poised to add to an already Hall of Fame worthy career.
Last year, after signing a one-year, $5.5 million deal with the Texas Rangers, Guerrero slugged 29 home runs, knocked in 115 and hit .300. The nine-time All-Star will enter 2011 with 2427 hits, 436 home runs and 1433 RBI for his career.
After 15 years in the bigs, Guerrero has a lifetime .320 batting average and it’s worth mentioning that the free swinger is just one of four players (Frank Robinson, Dave Winfield and Fred McGriff are the others) to record 1000 hits in both the American and National Leagues.
So if Guerrero can avoid the injuries that limited him to just 100 games in 2009 and moved him from the outfield to designated hitter…are we looking at baseball’s next 3000 hit-500 home run guy?
Perhaps.
And without a hint a steroids surrounding Guerrero (and let’s face it, you almost have to think that about with everyone nowadays)…is it possible we’re looking at a future Hall of Famer?
Most definitely.
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