Time to give Rivera more playing time

[apereira2222]

First off, I know it's still extremely early in the season, but if Jason Kendall continues to struggle, at what point should Rivera begin playing more than 1 in every 5 days? Kendall is not getting any younger, maybe the absurd amount of games he caught last season are catching up to him.

[treego]

Split the time now between them. Tell both players this up-front. Let them fight for the starter's role for 1 month. If nobody is clearly playing better than the other, continue to split up playing time. If one is playing significantly better than the other, play him 80% of the games until a 2-week slump occurs whereupon the manager splits time evenly again for a specified period to determine the starter's role again until a 2-week slump occurs again.. Case closed. :-)

[WisconsinSportsRule]

I can't wait to see what Salome does this year in AAA. It'd be great to have a good hitting catcher.

[SenatorShriv]

I would be interested in pinch hitting for Kendall more frequently. Late in a game when we are down by a run or two seems like a good opportunity to get a better bat into the lineup. In the game this evening against the Cubs we really needed a couple of hits and could have easily put in Rivera for Kendall and Nelson in the pitchers spot to get something going during the 8th inning. Instead we trotted Kendall out there to strike out. I was really frustrated with Yost's lack of flexibility when it came to pinch hitting for the starting catcher, and will quickly grow frustrated if Macha continues the trend.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, I didn't get why Rivera couldn't pinch hit in the 9th for Kendall last night. We were down by, what, four runs anyway? Kendall is basically a guaranteed out right now. Would it really have been that big a risk to have Rivera take a chance in the batter's box? I was really mad when I saw Kendall walking up there last night.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Has Kendall hit any balls out of the infield so far this season. At this point he looks like an automatic out. At least Rivera gives us a chance offensively and is at least decent defensively. Rivera needs to play more than Kendall at this point unless something changes soon.

[Invader3K]

No...I don't think he has. If he doesn't strike out (Kendall), it's almost a forgone conclusion that he will hit a bouncing grounder down the third base line. Too bad he doesn't have the speed of a Juan Pierre or someone like that.

[brewdude15]

Kendall hit a hard ball to left field in the SF series, but other than that, I think the rest of his at-bats have all either ended up as a soft grounder to third or strikeout.

[TSack27]

He did have a sac fly to center driving in Milwaukee's only run Thursday.

 

But yes, there needs to be less fear in pinching hitting for catchers because of that minute chance that the game may go into extra innings AND your back-up catcher gets hurt. Seems the odds of losing because of leaving an .000 hitting guy in to bat is greater that the odds of getting to extra innings and having the injury occur (plus there's always the chance to see McGehee strap on the gear).

[jeffy]

IIRC, according to an article in Sunday Journal-Sentinel Macha indicated that he may have Rivera catch for Parra as well as Bush at some point. I think that point should be tomorrow. Also agree with implementing a more liberal pinch hitting poilicy when Kendall is catching.

 

They have a 3rd, at least somewhat experienced, catcher on the roster

 

http://media.scout.com/Media/Minor_League_Baseball/798727_McGehee062804.JPG

Casey McGehee

so I really can not understand the irrational fear of pinch hitting for Kendall.

[RU Rah Rah]

I mentioned in another thread that Kendall is 59 for his last 282 (.209), dating back to last year. His current OPS+ is -68. (I didn't realize that you could even have a negative number.)

 

I know he's a defensive upgrade over Rivera, but what is the net loss of runs going to be over the course of the season with him in the lineup day after day?

[OOOverbay]

Treego, I wish they'd make you honorary manager for any catching decisions. That is the perfect plan in my opinion. Kendall has been nothing but a first class personality since joining the Brewers, but I'm sick of the automatic out feeling when he comes to the plate. I feel better when Yo, Manny, or Bush are at bat compared to Kendall.

[logan82]

Feelings, nothing more than feelings,

 

Lets give the guy a few more games before making any judgments.

[TooLiveBrew]

Kendall should be expected to post an OBP around .325 or .330. I can't imagine Rivera would have much trouble being at least close to that, with a much higher SLG.

 

So, while Kendall's defense is obviously superior, the more PAs Rivera gets this season the better imho

[logan82]

I can't imagine Rivera would have much trouble being at least close to that, with a much higher SLG.

 

It would be nice is he did, but over his entire career he has bounced all over with his OBP. Even in his most reacnt decent sample size of AB he had a .272 OBP in 2007 with our AAA team. He had an OBP of .339 in AAA 2006. He has a career AAA OBP of .309. Career MLB OBP of .301. I can easily imagine Rivera having a worse OBP. He doesn't really have enough recent PA to say anything for sure.

[TooLiveBrew]

I can easily imagine Rivera having a worse OBP.

 

That's true... I guess just watching the two play at this point it doesn't look like Kendall holds any offensive edge whatsoever. All it'd take is that first hot streak from Kendall to make me eat my words, though.

 

Just to clarify I wasn't predicting a .330 OBP & .450 SLG from Rivera... just thought a .315 - .320-ish OBP with a SLG north of .400 was reasonable to forecast.

[logan82]

Just to clarify I wasn't predicting a .330 OBP & .450 SLG from Rivera... just thought a .315 - .320-ish OBP with a SLG north of .400 was reasonable to forecast.

 

You could easily be right. I could be talked into Rivera over Kendall against a LHP. Probably not against RHP though. Kendall is really bad at the plate right now, but we don't know why. There is no reason to expect it to continue that I know of.

[endaround]

Well Kendall's OPS in 2006 was .610 with a .301 OBP so its not like he hasn't had issues.

[RU Rah Rah]

Kendall is really bad at the plate right now, but we don't know why. There is no reason to expect it to continue that I know of.

I see what you're saying, and I don't want to write him off completely after a bad week. But it seems as though he's been struggling to hit a line drive to the outfield since about the All Star break last year.

[topper09er]

Kendall will slug under .300 this year

[logan82]

Well Kendall's OPS in 2006 was .610 with a .301 OBP so its not like he hasn't had issues.

 

True, but even with that bad year factored in he has had on OBP of .334 from 2006-2008.(I think you meant to say 2007)

 

But it seems as though he's been struggling to hit a line drive to the outfield since about the All Star break last year.

 

Funny you brought this up. Many people attributed his poor hitting in the last half of last year to being tired.

 

I wouldn't be upset with the manager giving up the 10 - 15 points of OBP difference between Kendall and Rivera if the hitter represented the tying or winning run. i wouldn't be to happy either.

[RU Rah Rah]

But it seems as though he's been struggling to hit a line drive to the outfield since about the All Star break last year.

 

Funny you brought this up. Many people attributed his poor hitting in the last half of last year to being tired.

I hope that's all it was, and that he can return to semi-respectability ASAP.

[JoeHova]

Kendall didn't hit semi-respectably last season. He's been atrocious with the bat for the past 2 years, even for a catcher. He wasn't anything special in 2005 or 2006 either. I think we could be looking at a Chad Moeller in 2004 situation with Kendall here.

[lcbj68c]

Late in the game, tying run at 2nd, go ahead run at first, one out. I told my wife, need to make a change here or it's a patented double play ground out. I walked away to the bathroom, didn't even need the confirmation.

[rluzinski]

Rivera might be projected to have an OBP around maybe 30 points less than Kendall but his SLG might be 100 points higher. Kendall's short stint with the Cubs in 2007 may have fooled some fantasy baseball players into thinking Kendall was OK offensively, but the truth is that he hasn't been a good hitter for several years. That said, I don't think either option an catcher is anything to get excited about.