Kansas City News Blog

By CHRIS RASMUSSEN

Nice guys finish last.

Leo Durocher said that 50 years ago, and that is nearly always been true in baseball. John McGraw brawled on and off the field. Ty Cobb hated everyone. Babe Ruth almost dropped manager Miller Huggins off a train. Charlie Finley worked his team into a rage, and the team won three championships in Oakland. Billy Martin fought with Reggie Jackson on national television in the dugout at Fenway the season they won a championship. Lou Pinella and Ozzie Guillen both wear championship rings and occasionally show signs of mental instability. For all the hagiography that surrounded them, winners are occasionally first-class assholes.

Until this year, the Royals were entirely too nice.

For much of the last decade, the Royals’ captain was Mike Sweeney – a legitimately good person by all accounts. He was not a leader, as he either would not call out his opponents or could not because he frequently was out of action due to injury. Sweeney is a devout Christian, perhaps too willing to see God’s will in yet another 90-loss season.

That’s changed with Jose Guillen.

He is an unlikely leader – he has been far from a stable clubhouse influence in the past and showed up in camp overweight, awaiting a suspension.

Thus far, he has proven to be nothing we’re used to in Kansas City uniform – unafraid to call out his teammates in profanity-laced tirades, edgy and absolutely determined to alter the losing demeanor of the Royals clubhouse. It isn’t a coincidence that Dayton Moore sought Milton Bradley last season via trade – Moore apparently wanted an edgy, loud presence who finds losing unacceptable and to announce their displeasure loudly.

Since Guillen’s initial tirade, he’s backed up his words off the field with his performance on the field, hitting at a torrid pace and playing terrific defense in left field. Better yet, he's not letting up.

At last. A Bad Cop and a badass in the Royals clubhouse.

This is not Emil Brown.