Brewers sign Jason Kendall -- 1 year/$4.25 mil guaranteed, up to 2 years/$10.25 mil possible

[sbrylski]

Sbrylski06, wouldn't he be a good candidate for the #2 spot, since he gets on-base at a pretty nice clip? If he gets on well with Braun and Fielder coming up, he might be a decent option for the 2 spot in the order.

 

What would be the alternative at this point?

Studies have shown you want your BEST hitter at #2. If he does get on base at a 36%+ clip, then I guess it wouldn't be the worth thing though. I'd still bat him 9th, behind the pitcher - not because he's that bad, just because I think he's tailor made to go along with that unorthodox philosophy.

 

As for who I'd put in the 2 spot, we still need a LF or 3B. So how about Luke Scott?

 

[sbrylski]

2008 statistics prediction: .278 / .364 / .352 / .716

 

If Kendall puts up those numbers I'd be very thrilled.

Bill James projection has him at .275 / .369 / .335. It was comforting to see that.

[dadofandrew]

I think Sam's projection is all but identical of what his last 3 years, minus his OAK in 2007 stats were. That would not surprise me at all.

[splitterpfj]

Estrada put up an OPS of .699 last season, I believe Kendall will beat that. I see no doubt that Kendall will have a higher OBP than Johnny had, and he won't be an automatic double play on a nine-hopper to shortstop. For the team the Brewers have right now, I think Kendall's skills are a better fit, I think he'll do well as a #8 hitter in the NL at this point, which is where the team needs to leave him.

 

Overall, I think the skills of the two catchers are quite different, but ultimately on the same level. The difference is, Kendall fits better in this lineup, he can draw a walk to clear the pitcher if he's up there with two outs, he can work the count to raise the opposing pitcher's pitch count, he can beat an occasional relay throw, and score from second on a single - Estrada was just painful to watch on the bases.

 

Those things are just the physical differences, if Estrada wouldn't relate to the pitching coach, he may have contributed to the struggles of guys like Capuano and Bush, who knows? I don't think anyone would argue that Johnny looked like he couldn't care less out there at times, I applaud the team for not tolerating a lousy attitude and lack of effort. Have you ever seen another player "run" like that? If he was hurt bad enough to cause that - he should have been on the DL.

 

Please, baseball gods, let my team develop just one starting catcher.

[brettac1]

As for who I'd put in the 2 spot, we still need a LF or 3B. So how about Luke Scott?

 

I think the #2 hitter definitely needs to come from outside the organization, be it Scott, Kelly Johnson, Crawford, Kearns, whomever. I do not want to see them putting Hardy there again, nor do I want Kendall up there slapping GIDP's all over the place (I realize he only had 8 last year, but look at his earlier numbers).

[homer]

Even if he matches Estrada's .699 OPS it will be more valuable because of the higher OBP and increased pitches per plate appearance.

 

Is that correct?

[dpapo]

The following comments about Kendall from Adam McCalvy in his article about the Mota trade,

"It opened the playing time that Kendall is seeking, and the Brewers have two proposed contracts on the table for the veteran to consider. But no agreement had been struck, general manager Doug Melvin said. "We were willing to make the trade now, because it gave us a chance to add a bullpen arm," Melvin said... "

"Tuesday's trade left the Brewers with no proven in-house options to catch. Did that make Melvin nervous? "I don't get nervous anymore," the GM joked. "If it doesn't work out [with Kendall], we'll figure something out." The Brewers have two proposals out to Kendall, Melvin confirmed. He would not go into detail, but one presumably offers the security of a multi-year commitment while the other offers a higher salary for one year and would give Kendall, whose offensive numbers were down in 2007, an opportunity to boost his value for next year. "We still haven't agreed on anything," Melvin said. Kendall's agent, Arn Tellem, did not immediately return a telephone message left at his office."

 

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071120&content_id=2305316&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

[theavrock]

Even if he matches Estrada's .699 OPS it will be more valuable because of the higher OBP and increased pitches per plate appearance.

 

Is that correct?

 

I would say so, yes. Depending on whether or not Yost bats him in the right spot in the lineup. The one thing that concerns me with Kendall is he is awful at throwing runners out. I would take a catcher that hits a little less average and slugging wise (while still having a decent OBP) than Kendall but is a plus defender. At least we got rid of Estrada.

[PeaveyFury]

I think so homer. The OBP fits better, and even if he's no better defensively, he's faster without a doubt.

[Robideaux]

Yeah, OPS is sort of a quick and dirty way to roughly judge hitting value. OB% is the more valuable component (in terms of correlation of runs per point) Different methodologies have resulted in different results, but conventional wisdom says that one point of SLG% is equal to 1.5 points of OB%, (I'm sure people will correct me if I am wrong,--I've seen studies that say that it is actually more like a 2:1 ratio , particularly for the portion of the OB% in excess of league averages).

 

Thus if I understand things correctly,

.300/.400 = 700 OPS

.400/.300 = 700 OPS

 

but recast with OB% multiplied by 1.5

.300/.400 = 1000

.400/.300 = 1100

 

Thus, if Estrada and Kendall happen to end up with the same OPS, Kendall is actually a more valuable hitter because a larger portion is derived from OB%.

[splitterpfj]

How much do you have to dislike a player to ditch him for a guy coming off a steroid suspension, when you don't have a replacement lined up yet?

[clancyphile]

One other thought... Kendall, if he does have a high OBP, would be a nice #2 hitter behind Rickie. And he'd probably see a lot of good pitches with Ryan, Prince, and Corey batting 3-4-5.

 

Oh, that could be very interesting. It would let the Brewers put JJ in the 6, 7, or 8 spot.

[Big Reed]

somebody has to ask the question, so it might as well be me. Who do the Cubs have at catcher that they are so willing to allow kendall to leave and sign with the brewers? kendell had a decent stint with the Cubs. his batting average took quantum leaps after he was traded. Why didn't the Cubs resign him? and why would kendall want to sign with the brewers rather than resigning with the Cubs? if i was kendall, i would have resigned with the Cubs.

 

then again, I like UNO's and Jeno's pizzarias and Water Tower plaza, and and and ....

[Milltownhooker]

Soto

[TheBrewer]

I could totaly see Soto just completely being lost this season.. He mashed in AAA in 07' for the Cubs with 26HR's I believe in 332AB. But prior to that, the 4? years in the minor leagues he was around a .250-.270BA .680-.700OPS 9HR's tops one season, project it to a full season thats 18. And this guy came out of no where too, 54AB's in the majors for Soto could not be enough. Watch him fall flat on his face

[RyDogg66]

somebody has to ask the question, so it might as well be me. Who do the Cubs have at catcher that they are so willing to allow kendall to leave and sign with the brewers? kendell had a decent stint with the Cubs. his batting average took quantum leaps after he was traded. Why didn't the Cubs resign him? and why would kendall want to sign with the brewers rather than resigning with the Cubs? if i was kendall, i would have resigned with the Cubs.

 

then again, I like UNO's and Jeno's pizzarias and Water Tower plaza, and and and ....

Did you watch any of the Cubs games down the stretch? Kendall rarely played and they have a young catcher named Geovany Soto who played well. If you were Kendall and resigned with the Cubs you would play about once a week next year.

 

[Fatter than Joey]

Why didn't the Cubs resign him? and why would kendall want to sign with the brewers rather than resigning with the Cubs? if i was kendall, i would have resigned with the Cubs.

 

Kendall has a $12M contract -- I am sure he would have loved to have the Cubs offer him Arby's. -- If Kendall gets Arby's from the Cubs, at worse

Kendall gets a 20% paycut -- which would probably be the best deal he could get.

 

Why didn't the Cubs sign him -- Blanco is signed and is healthy, Soto is a great prospect. Soto+Blanco is probably sufficient -- Blanco gets ~$1.7 and Soto is paid

peanuts. Kendall would have cost the Cubs roughly ~$10M, blocked Soto, and would have been a hurdle to signing other FA's the Cubs may be chasing.

 

So why do the Brewers not wait until Dec. 1? -- I suspect DM doesn't care about the Cubs getting a sandwich pick -- and if someone else signs Kendall, we

have less of an opportunity to trade Estrada.

[splitterpfj]

Brewers have offered Kendall a one-year deal, and are waiting for his response. - Buster Olney, ESPN

[RU Rah Rah]

I suppose it will be OK to have someone with a .360-ish OBP hitting in front of Braun and Prince. (He apparently takes a lot of pitches, too.) On the defensive side, he's gotta be an upgrade.

 

My only concern is that he was pretty awful in the first half last year with Oakland -- .226/.261/.281 over 80 games and 292 AB's. (He didn't even get over the Mendoza line until mid-June.) Those aren't typical numbers for him, and he did manage to pick things up when he went over to the Cubs, but I'm not banking on him having a renaissance at the plate at age 34.

 

I wonder about Plan B, though?

[MoneyballMan]

How much do you have to dislike a player to ditch him for a guy coming off a steroid suspension, when you don't have a replacement lined up yet?

A lot.

[sbrylski]

Brewers have offered Kendall a one-year deal, and are waiting for his response. - Buster Olney, ESPN

They've also offered a longer term deal for less money, per the link in the post at the top of this page.

 

[shelmark]

I think we should have waited on the trade until we have Kendall for leverage purposes, if nothing else. Kendall may have wanted a guarantee of playing time, but now he knows we have Rivera, Thurman Munson....not, and Captain Lou....that's it.

[areacodes]

I think we should have waited on the trade until we have Kendall for leverage purposes, if nothing else.

Wouldn't that have taken away what little value Estrada had? Although, if that were the case the DM could have just non-tendered him instead of picking up Mota. Although it is not a sexy trade at all it should at least help the bullpen a little. I have a feeling we are looking at a lot of relievers, both scrap-heap variety and proven, to see what will stick.

 

[brewmann04]

If say we don"t actually sign Kendall who in the world will be catching Miller and Munson?

[TooLiveBrew]

Not that I'm advocating this, but Torrealba is still a FA. There'd be other candidates via trade, too.