Ah, spring training. The warm sun, the grass and rookies on a mission. It's baseball. The sounds of the crack of a bat after a long winter break. It's a time when young men with big dreams gather in the clubhouse and say "Hey, who's the old guy?"
Well, it just may be Vladimir Guerrero.
No sports pre-season would be complete without an attempted comeback. This time, it just happens to be former 9-time All-Star Vladamir Guerrero. According to Fox Sports, the 38-year old slugger is looking for one more shot at the big leagues.
The last time Guerrero suited up was last June, batting .358 with four home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays triple-A team. However, after 12 games, he gave the front office an ultimatum: move me to the majors or released me. He was then released and hasn't played in the big leagues since.
Note to self: ultimatums rarely work no matter how good you are.
On November 4th, he signed with Tigres del Licey, a team in his native Dominican Republic. In 8 games, he hit .188 without a home run or an RBI. Two weeks later, he left the team after being informed that he would "only be used as a pinch hitter in special moments." At the time, Guerrero stated that he had been "disrespected".
This time around, the former Angel and Expo is more willing to start in the minors. He's even sent out a video to major league teams showing that he could still swing a bat, run and possibly throw out guys who think they can stretch a single into a double. Despite his poor showing in the Dominican Republic, there's still a chance that he may have some gas in the tank. In his last full season in the majors, Guerrero hit .290 with 13 home runs and 63 RBI in 145 games for the Baltimore Orioles.
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