KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Detroit Tigers and shortstop Carlos Guillen agreed Tuesday on a $14 million, three-year contract extension through 2007.
Guillen, 28, gets $4 million next season and $5 million in each of the final two years. He is batting .322 with 47 RBIs in 67 games this season with a career-best seven triples and 10 homers.
Guillen was acquired from Seattle in January for Ramon Santiago and prospect Juan Gonzalez after starting the previous three seasons with the Mariners. Guillen is making $2.5 million this year.
"I'm very happy," Guillen said. "I feel pretty good. I like
the front office. They want to win. That's the most important
thing. The front office made a lot of moves to make this team
better. I want to stay here."
Guillen, 28, was hitting .322 with 49 runs, 17 doubles, a
career-high 10 homers and 47 RBIs in 67 game with the Tigers. His
.979 fielding percentage ranked third among AL shortstops.
"This is peace of mind for him," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "He's happy here, and I'm glad we were able to make him comfortable. I think we're on the right track. We all know we still
have work to do, but to have him on board is going to make that
process a little easier."
Guillen began his career in the Houston Astros' farm system,
then was acquired by the Mariners with Freddy Garcia and John Halama in 1998 for Randy Johnson. Guillen hit .264 with 29 homers
and 211 RBIs in 488 games with the Mariners.
The Tigers also purchased the contract of outfielder Marcus Thames from Triple-A Toledo, and he was in the starting lineup
against Kansas City as the designated hitter .
Thames hit .329 and was leading the International League with 24 home runs, 46 extra-base hits, 59 RBIs and a .735 slugging
percentage at Toledo. He was second in the league with a .410
on-base percentage.
The 27-year-old outfielder played 39 games with the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees the previous two seasons, hitting two home runs and six RBIs in 73 at-bats. He also struck out 22 times.