We knew that Carlos Guillen's 2001 bout with tuberculosis was serious, but until we read this feature by Jon Paul Morosi (formerly of the P-I, now with the Detroit Free Press), we never knew that Guillen was so close to death:

He could barely sleep. He had a fever every night. He battled headaches and weakness. He lost almost 20 pounds. He coughed up blood. Yet, Carlos Guillen continued to play shortstop for the Seattle Mariners.

He felt miserable for 2 1/2 months. Each night, he told himself there was no way he could play the next day. Then he would wake up, drive across Lake Washington, walk into the clubhouse of those record-setting 2001 Mariners and change his mind.

One night that September, he fell asleep on his bathroom floor, after vomiting blood. This time, he couldn't even stand up. Something was terribly wrong.

"When I got into the (hospital) room," Guillen says, "they gave me 50-50."

Guillen lived--even came back for the ALDS after lung surgery. But his absence was a major reason why the M's flamed out in the playoffs. They had to put the weak-armed Mark McLemore, who couldn't hit lefties, at shortstop.

 

Before the 2004 season, convinced that Guillen was injury-prone, M's management basically gave him to Detroit in a trade that may end up surpassing Varitek/Lowe for Slocumb as the worst in team history. Guillen hit .318 with 97 ribbies for the 2004 Tigers. The M's got Ramon Santiago, who hit .193 for Tacoma. Santiago played only 27 games as a Mariner, they released him after 2005 and he resigned with the Tigers.

The tuberculosis, which was at first misdiagnosed because it is so rare here (Guillen still has no idea how he caught it), was probably the final nail in the "injury-prone" coffin, and also may have cost the M's their best chance at a World Series championship. We knew this, and it sucks, but it certainly pales next to the fact that Guillen nearly died. Way to live, 'Los.