Fan's Take: When, or If, Carlos Guillen Returns from Injury, Do the Tigers Want Him?

The latest news on Carlos Guillen is that his knee is pain-free and he's attempting to get to the running stage of the rehabilitation process. In fact, Guillen is not even certain he'll be back this season. Going into spring training, it was unclear who would man second base for the Tigers in Guillen's absence. It turned into a two man race between Will Rhymes and Scott Sizemore, and eventually Rhymes won the job by hitting .289 and showing above-average defense at the position.

Rhymes has gotten off to a bit of a slow start at the plate, going just two for his first 14 at-bats, but the season is only a handful of games old. When Guillen is ready to play fulltime again, if he ever is ready, would he give the Tigers a better to chance to win? Jim Leyland always pontificates about striving to base his lineup on who gives them the best chance to win. If he's faced with choosing between Rhymes and Guillen, who should he pencil in?

Guillen is 35 years old, which is relatively young in the real world, but on a baseball field, he's likely on the downside of his career. Rhymes on the other hand is in his prime at 28 years old. Guillen's bad knees have hurt his range defensively, and for that reason he's been moved from short, to third, and now second over the past few years. Rhymes on the other hand is regarded as above average defensively.

At the plate, Guillen put up good numbers in his prime. He topped 20 homeruns in 2004 and 2007 and hit over .286 from 2004 to 2008. Over the last few seasons, his skills have declined as has his ability to state on the field. Since posting 420 at bats in 2008, he has stepped to the plate just 277 and 253 times over the last two seasons, respectively. His OPS has been in a free fall, declining in each of the last four seasons.

Rhymes on the other hand has shown some promising statistics. Last season, he made contact at the plate 92 percent of the time, compared to Guillen making contact a little over 80 percent over the last few seasons. Also, Rhymes stole 125 bases over six minor league seasons, showing he has a little speed potential. Guillen's days of running are all but over.

He's not going to hit 20 balls out of the park, like a Carlos Guillen in his prime, but either is modern-day Carlos Guillen. Will Rhymes will, however, put the ball in play, show above-average speed and decent range at second. Leyland is loyal to a fault to his veterans, but he'd be putting the best team on the field by leaving Guillen on the bench and putting Rhymes at second.