Our unsung hero

[liveforoctober]

Obviously CC Sabathia is from some other planet and we've always known what Sheets is capable of when he is healthy... but I don't think you can say enough about what Jason Kendall has meant to this pitching staff... most notably the grooming of Manny Parra and the conversions of Dave Bush and Seth McClung into big league pitchers. The guy could hit .200 the rest of the way and I don't think I'd blink about him being in the starting lineup everyday. His arm has been a fantastic surprise to boot...

 

Cheers to the backstop.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

i think Jason has caught 29 of 72 would be base stealers (unsure on the exact numbers). That would certainly make him our best catcher (defensively) since the Henry Blanco days

[brewerfan82]

25 of 55 according to baseball-reference.com

[tristarscoop]

When I was at Wrigley on May 1 this guy behind me spent the entire game going on and on about how we got their leavings when we took Kendall, and he's so awful, and he couldn't throw anyone out, etc... and someone finally turned around and quoted Jason's stats and told the guy to shut up if he didn't know what he was talking about. It was fabulous.

[datrain711]

manny parra also deserves mention, although he has been getting more praise lately.

[Tbadder]

When I was at Wrigley on May 1 this guy behind me spent the entire game going on and on about how we got their leavings when we took Kendall, and he's so awful, and he couldn't throw anyone out, etc... and someone finally turned around and quoted Jason's stats and told the guy to shut up if he didn't know what he was talking about. It was fabulous.

 

You gotta love that when it happens. I woulda paid to see that.

[brewmann04]

I think Doug addition of Kendall has been #1 folllowed by Parra and Torres

[craigharmann]

Kendall vs. Estrada......HUGE upgrade with Kendall. I would say he's been the best FA pickup of the offseason, hands down. A very close 2nd would be Torres.

[BCZF]

If J Kendall and S Torres are not around, where would this club be? Shudder to think, the Gagne experiment was a bust as closer (although as a set up guy he seems to be less crappy). But without Torres, as iffy as he can be, this record looks mighty different.

 

And for Kendall, I've screamed this all last season with Estrada, a good game caller is part and parcel to good pitching, and Estrada couldn't call in a pizza order, let alone steer a pitcher. and his frustrating knack of setting up, no lie, about 25 seconds before a pitch is thrown, more than enough time to relay a sign to a hitter.. Add to this his general jerkiness and lack of athleticism and you have yourself a donkey, my friends...

[FVBrewerFan]

Parra is my unsung hero. When the CC trade went down I don't think I heard anyone nationally or even locally mention him. It was always "CC, Sheets and now if Suppan can come around..." Parra gets almost no love. If he were in the Red Sox rotation he would be a household name. I think Kendall gets plenty of prasie- especially locally. Parra is the very definition of both unsung and hero.

[monkeyman343434]

Kendall vs. Estrada......HUGE upgrade with Kendall. I would say he's been the best FA pickup of the offseason, hands down. A very close 2nd would be Torres.

 

I would agree with this, but Torres wasn't a FA pickup, he was traded from Pitt

[cwolf2012]

You guys must value the KUGs a lot.

 

Kendall has been pretty much what we expected on offense (not very good) while surprisingly effective defensively. I admit he's very gritty, but I'm not so sure how much credit you can give him for "developing" Bush and Parra.

[rluzinski]

Kendall's defense has been great but we have no idea what effect his presence has had on the pitchers. Should I blame him for Suppan's bad year? Gagne? Bush's bad first 2 months? I certainly don't think that's fair.

 

I'm not saying that he hasn't helped Parra or some other pitcher. I just wouldn't automatically assume it.

 

Great defense, adequate offense for a catcher. That's good enough for me.

[liveforoctober]

True... but I've heard Parra say on more than one occasion that the thinking aspect of pitching has been taken right out of the game for him... because he just "throws whatever Kendall tells me to throw" ... so take that for what its worth ... but all he has had to do is execute

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

but we have no idea what effect his presence has had on the pitchers

We really don't. That's just stuff for announcers to talk about when they run out of material. He might be having an effect, but it's not like a pitcher is going to say if they don't like how he handles them because the media would create a circus then. I'll go out on a limb and say he was better than Estrada though. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[razzzorsharp]

In all the years that Sheets has been here I haven't heard him rave about a catcher like he has this year about Kendall. He could just be blowing smoke but I do take his opinion pretty seriously.

[clancyphile]

Put it this way... I'd see no problem with signing Kendall to a four-year extension, provided it doesn't break the bank (say $9 million over four years).

[Brewer Fever]

I remember one of the pitchers relaying to Jim Powell how when they watch the film and gameplan for the next opponent, Kendall is right there next to them working on it. That pitcher made it clear that they were on their own last year. Estrada was nowhere to be found. There is no one that will convince me that the pitching improvement this year is by chance.

[pitchleague]

I still find it funny that Torres considered retiring before/during spring training. Sure would have missed one heck of a season (thus far).

[DougJones43]

Mike Cameron perhaps? His OPS is now over .800, his OBP has become respectable, and let's not forget what a defensive upgrade he is from Billy Hall playing out in CF last season. Cam has allowed the Brewers to have good defense CF without having to play Tony Gwynn Jr.

[bork]

In all the years that Sheets has been here I haven't heard him rave about a catcher like he has this year about Kendall

Not since Chad Moeller anyway.

 

But just about every pitcher has sung Kendall's praises this year. CC, Sheets, and Suppan all mentioned how little they have to shake him off.

[ILuvDaBush]

I recall some stat last year, where the A's had a 2.5ERA when they had Kendall and it doubled once he left, or something there about.

[BrewCrewRising]

I recall some stat last year, where the A's had a 2.5ERA when they had Kendall and it doubled once he left, or something there about.

They traded him just last year, and this year the A's have the best ERA in the AL. So, I think it's safe to assume that a lot of the ERA shift was just statistical noise from what is generally a very good pitching system (pitchers, pitching coaches, etc.)

I'll agree with Russ that you can't put too much on a catcher's effect on a pitcher, but if pitchers are singing praises of the catcher in public, instead of saying nothing or being polite (thus masking possible hatred), it can't hurt. But Jason's doing a great job this year. Hitting is OK, and defense much better than expected.

[endaround]

Hard to be the unsung hero when you are constantly called great by the broadcast team every single game.

[trwi7]

Hard to be the unsung hero when you are constantly called great by the broadcast team every single game.

 

Yeah, it's really annoying how they do that. Then they get into a conversation about catcher's masks and how Quintero was wearing a hockey style mask and Kendall wore a traditional mask and Bill makes the comment well obviously he wears the traditional style mask and then Brian comes back out and says Jason probably wouldn't wear a mask if he had a choice and Bill says No, he's smarter than that.

 

Those two are just awful, I wanted to punch a hole in the wall after listening to that.