Cubs trade for Jason Kendall

It's a fine move considering the alternatives (Hill, Bowen, Soto). But it's also not going to do much for the team, except in solid experience. You can pretty much chalk up an out for the 8 and 9 slots in the order when Zambrano isn't pitching though. No power, few rbi's, terrible average = not good.

Roman, I'm not really sold on this move. If the year was 2000 or even 2001 I'd be excited about the move. Hell now that I mentioned 2001, remember during that summer when the Cubs "went out" and got Fred McGriff? and McGriff was supposed to help them win the division? It didn't quite work out that way that year, though I honestly do believe the Cubs will catch the Brewers in the next few months. as

Roman responds: I know his best days are behind him, but the guy hit like .295 last season. He's not a bum. He's an upgrade.

He has A career average of 298. He's got to be better than what they have now, or had in that nitwit Barrett. Funny, since they traded him, how many games have they lost?

blevins looks like he might have something. i guess kendall was their only choice.

Jim Hendry is GM of the year. He needs at least one more horse and the Cubs are good to go! Go Cubs.

It's an educated gamble that didn't cost much. Unless Blevins turns into Dontrelle Willis, which he probably won't. Kendall isn't as bad as his numbers this year. He'll improve on those.

Hey Roman, I guess Lou's tirade you scoffed at on June 2nd did help a bit, huh?

Roman responds: C'mon. It's a coincidence. Derrek Lee said it was the dugout fight that illustrated to the players that they had hit rock bottom and needed to do something. But I know, I know, people will point to the tirade. Whatever works, I guess. I do like Lou, though. He just seems like a decent guy.

This trade is a typical Cubs move. I remember the Cubs of the mid to late 70's, bring in a name player well past his prime, hype his past performances to sell a bad trade to the fans.

I like Jason Kendall circa 2002. The 2007 version is a shell of his former self. Still, this will help motivate him for a while as I see him getting some hits early on when he first arrives. Even if the Cubs make the playoffs, they look like a first round exit until they get some more bullpen help and a replacement for Jacque Jones.

The headlines should read "Cubs deal guy who walks a lot AND a minor leaguer for a catcher with a .261 OBP".

Honestly, it's not the batting average at all that scares me about Kendall, it's his 12 walks in 292 ABs and COMPLETE lack of power. Like, he has less HR than Scott Podsednik in the past 3 years. He used to be far better than that. He's lost a ton of patience at the plate this year, and now that he's out of the A's organization, where they beat OBP as opposed to BA down your throat, I can imagine he will only get worse. After all, which pitchers aren't going to challenge a guy who can't put the ball out of the park? He needs all the patience he can get.

When I first saw Rob Bowen's stat line (when the Cubs traded for him), I said out loud, "why hasn't Billy Beane acquired this guy for next to nothing yet?" Underrated guys who walk a lot are the players that Beane has been snagging for years. And he just did it again to the Cubs.

Funny, in a press conference, Jim Hendry said that Billy Beane is great to deal with and he never tries to screw you over. HAH! Just ask Kenny Williams how many times Beane has screwed him over (Bradford, Durham).

Well guess what Hendry, Beane has done just that: screw you over, and acquire Rob Bowen for next to nothing.

This essentially turns out to be Barrett for Kendall trade. I like it. Barrett needed to go and Kendall has always been respected by his peers and opponents alike. It wasn't like Barrett was tearing it up at the plate this year. I can't see how this trade hurts the Cubs. Kendall is not a long term solution by any means, but I think he can only help this team right now. The question is what kind of expectations are going to be put on Kendalls shoulders? He never hit for power. But he is a .298 career hitter, if he can get anywhere near that this year (.260-.270) and get some clutch hits, that should be good enough. Kendall can handle a pitching staff, and a veteran presence like that has to help the team. The only cause for concern I have is does his low average mean that age is catching up to him? It sounds like the Pirates are paying some of his salary and the A's will pick up most of the rest of the salary, so from a financial point of view the trade is low risk for the Cubs. Bottom line is this move doesn't hurt the Cubs at all and has a lot of potential for being a great move.

Just a thought for you Roman as you state that Kendall hit .295 last year...look what Dye is doing. He was something like a top 5 MVP candidate last year and he's been horrific this year. Yes, Kendall hit .295 last year, but he has been really bad this year, and he's been trending downwards for years now. Hopefully for Cub's fans sake he'll turn it around w/a change of scenery, but last year was last year. In baseball, more than any other sport, things can really change, from week to week and month to month, let alone year to year. I know I'm stating the obvious, but let's not make this out to be some great trade. Kendall just isn't very good anymore. I'm personally think he's worse at this point than Barrett. You may pick up some talent behind the plate, but you lose a lot with the stick.

Roman responds: Who said it was a "great" trade. I think I said it was an upgrade. We'll see. Sometimes a change of scenery and the motivation of playing for a postseason berth can do wonders.

Bowen didnt even play. Hill is in a terrible slump. I expect Kendall to play half/half with the good rook- Soto. However you look at Kendall as old, nearly washed up, he certainly is an upgrade. Maybe he can teach Soto some tricks?

I think this is a good move. The Cubs need a veteran catcher and it shows that they're trying to improve the team. Kendall's offense is in decline, but he can't hit any worse than Bowen and Hill. Pitchers seem to like to throw to him, so i think it helps the team.

Easy Noles... you make it sound like Bowen was the next Carlton Fisk.. Kendall is an upgrade to both Hill, Bowen, and a unproven Soto. And Hendry didn't have to give up much to attain him.

The fact that the Cubs now have a veteran who has proved he can hit is great. Those switch-hitting youngsters were mostly a total waste offensively. I think K.hill might be okay after a little more minor league seasoning,and Soto should get the starts when J.K. needs a rest. I really doubt that Henry Blanco will be a future factor. Kendall should have three or four good years left and likes the Cubs. I'm much more optimistic about a World Series victory today than I was yesterday. I don't believe a team without a veteran catcher who can hit has much hope and I think Kendall will have a great second half.

"...um um, my cousin Kendall from, uh, Indiana, he got high once and you know, he started eating like really weird
foods. And uh, and then he just felt like he didn't belong anywhere. You know, kinda like, you know "Twilight Zone" kinda."

I've seen a couple of comments complaining about Kendall's decent batting average but low power numbers; and to that I say so what? I'm not sure which Cubs team you've been watching the last month and a half, but I do recall seeing them win quite a few games lately just by stringing base hits and doubles together. He'll fortify the back half of our order, minimizing the "dead space" (I.e. Hill, Bowen) Yes, he isn't going to put up the power numbers that Barrett would've, but if you give me the choice between a frequently hot-headed, offensive catcher who's game calling, defense, and baserunning was highly suspect; and a level headed "leader" with good defense, and game calling with above average career offensive numbers...I'll pick Kendall any day.
Barrett was simply too much of a distraction for whatever benefits he gave the team, and Bowen appeared to be on a hitting strike.

I'm not sure why whoever said that Beane picked up a guy who "walks alot" unless he was referring to that reliever from the minors. Bowen's had this year a slightly worse strikeout to walk ratio than 2:1. If you only have two hits, in 31 ABs and nearly half of those ABs ended in a strikeout...it's hard to get excited over 4 walks.

The Cubs probably aren't going to keep the guy after the season, and that works out nicely for both the Cubs and Kendall. The Cubs get an above average catcher to help them make a run, while Kendall gets an opportunity to advertise himself for free agency, with a contender.

Roman responds: Who said it was a "great" trade. I think I said it was an upgrade. We'll see. Sometimes a change of scenery and the motivation of playing for a post-season berth can do wonders.

Exactly....but you forgot the hyphen in post-season....thought I'd fix that before the billy goat comes running out onto the field..

Roman responds: Thanks, but we don't use hyphens with postseason.

That's 2 points for you, Brian Johnson! One for the quote and one for the moniker........

Roman responds: What is with you guys and this movie?

Take a cue from Woody Paige and look at the stats: Throughout his career Kendal has typically slowed down in the second half of the season. His runs, hits, walks and RBI go down considerably after the all-star break and his BA is well below .300 when he bats seventh or eighth in the order. It's an upgrade, but certainly not much of one. Hendry must be eyeing his defensive abilities and his good numbers against divisional foes than the typical fantasy-type stats.

Poor little billy goat's gonna trip on all the cups.....

just a couple of points.
1.) players most often mimic their environment (i.e. THE CUBS)
so I wouldn't worry about Kendall too much. Pitchers love him. Pitchers do not love Barret. Pitchers do not know Bowen or Hill.
That my friends is called an upgrade.
2.) who said Hill has been in a slump? You can't say that. He sucked at the plate since he was called up. How can you call that a slump?? Jermaine Dye is in a slump. You see, because he is an established player.
3.) Jermaine Dye is still awesome.....the environment needs to change...although he was awesome with the Royals. I think his season will take a turn for the better. Of all the Sox players to rip on....not Jermaine Dye.
4.) GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBIES!!
5.) Oh, and as usual.Sox fans you either have to flame us in here or get out......your uninformed advice is not warranted. How many times do we have to tell you....geez.

Sean K.

Look at his numbers prior to coming to the Cubs. He was walking once every 6-7 ABs with the Padres this year, and closer to once every 7 the year before. The walk rate declined a little bit with the Cubs, but it was over a smaller sample size, and 4 walks in 31 ABs is still pretty good. Bowen was probably just unlucky in terms of not getting hits. If you're one to crucify a player after 31 ABs, that's perfectly fine with me. But the fact of the matter is, Bowen seems to have a sustained tendency to draw a base on balls, and while he's not going to win any awards for hitting HR, he'll do it significantly more often than Kendall.

And another thing, Sean-o. Given that a player is making outs in the first place, it really isn't that bad that they're strikeouts. In MOST cases, a strikeout yields the same or similar result as an out in play. There's the occasional sacrifice that makes it better on average to ground out or fly out, but there are also double plays...situations in which it's better to strike out than to ground out. So yeah. Strikeouts are not the end of the world. They are the reason Bowen's batting average was so low, because when he makes less contact he gives himself less chance to get lucky and get a hit, but again, 31 AB is not exactly a great sample size. When talking about whether a player walks a lot, please use BB/AB or BB/PA in the future, not K/BB ratio.

To kris, and stuckinwisconsin: I'm sorry, but the notion that Billy Beane screwed over Jim Hendry just isn't defensible, no matter how much you want to talk about walks. Take a look at these stats:

8 seasons, 499 games, 1,655 at-bats, .238 average, .324 OBP, .391 slugging, 54 homers, 231 RBI, 200 walks, 413 strikeouts

Those are Bowen's numbers. His MINOR LEAGUE numbers. No average, sporadic power at best, and even with a decent eye at the plate, his OBP is still lower than free-swinging Jacque Jones' career OBP in the bigs. I'm amazed this guy ever got a callup. The guy came into 2007 with a career .206 average and .298 OBP in the big leagues. Simply put, walks are valuable, but if a player simply can't hit, walks will not be enough to make him a valuable player. Period. Rob Bowen cannot consistently hit major-league pitching, and he really couldn't even hit minor-league pitching.

In the end, the Cubs are in a win-now mode, and Rob Bowen was not going to help this team win in 2007--or beyond. Jason Kendall may catch lightning in a bottle, or he may continue to prove it's time to retire, but the Cubs aren't losing anything of value to find out.

Vick indicted...so I'm hearing (4:15 pm Tues)

Whoops, if you'll allow me a correction...I mis-read how the names relate to the posts. I should have addressed my post as "to Noles." Apologies to kris and stuckinwisconsin.

Jason V

It wasn't Kris and stuckinwisconsin that said those things, it was me. The name is listed at the bottom of the post, not the top.

I'm looking at his minor league stats right now, and you're right. That's a pretty good argument against me there. I like the way you researched your stuff. Rob Bowen's OBP clip was not very good in the minors.

I'm still going to disagree, though I respect your opinion. The minor leagues are about player development, and with all the league jumping and park factor changes from A to AA to AAA, etc, I don't like averaging it all together. I like to look at what Bowen did towards the back end of his minor league career, which is more representative of the player he is today. In 2005, his last full year of AAA, he put up .267/.366/.401. Not outstanding by any means, but definitely a plus from the catcher position. If you look at this link below, you'll notice that his 2006 and 2007 stints with the Padres brought OBPs that were serviceable and good, respectively, from the catcher position.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/bowenro01.php

My belief is that this is more of what we'll see from Bowen. He's seemed to develop a good eye of the strike zone. Not good power, but better than Kendall's. He has a style well-equipped to play with Oakland's offensive strategy. Kendall is an aging catcher that hasn't had an EqA above league average since 2004. Maybe he'll "break out" with the Cubs and pull along a .295 AVG, .367 OBP, and .342 SLG (!!!!) like he did last year with Oakland to make for a .251 EqA. Fine. That's a reasonable hope, and probably about an average EqA for a starting catcher. But the fact of the matter is, Kendall has been one of the very worst players in baseball this year who is eligible for the batting title. He has a .186 EqA. That's terrible.

You are right that there are concerns with Bowen. He developed slowly and if he keeps striking out a lot, he won't make enough contact to get his OBP to a level where a guy with his plate discipline should be. No matter who winds up having a better 2nd half, I don't think saying that Billy Beane made of pretty well here is an indefensible position. Thanks for putting in the effort though. There needs to be more fans like you who want to use facts to argue their points.

-Noles

Vick indicted??? I'm shocked....not

Wee Willy: 16 pitches, 11 balls and only 5 strikes. Even I have better control than that, and I'm over 70.

I cannot believe that I am actually hearing people trying to support Bowen. OK, first of all he had 2 hits as a Cub. Once again, that is 2. You know, the number after 1 and right before the huge number 3. Second of all, he had 4 walks. I'm pretty sure that we can find somebody else to take 4 walks in just under 40 AB's. I'm sure Billy Beane really thought that he was screwing the Cubs for giving them a tough nosed veteran like Kendall while he got a professional BACK-UP catcher at best, like Bowen. Oh yeah, and the word going around is that Suzuki, the youngster, is going to be the catcher for the A's. Once again, NOT BOWEN. Get real you guys.

More on J.K. : I was kind of disappointed last night that Lou pinch-hit for him in the ninth. I hoped he'd show he still had some power, but Ward pinch-hitting did make sense. Too bad the move didn't work out. I liked Sean K.'s first blog, and mostly agree, but still think getting rid of Barrett was not a good move, in spite of the susequent won-loss record.Perhaps the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy is at work both with the B. versus Z.affair and Lou's performance. Even so, I'll still wear my Cub hat while watching televised Cub games.Shades of Bobby Knight's red sweater.

Way to catch that pop up Kendall!!!

OK, you didn't say it was a great trade. Fair enough. But "an upgrade" on a couple of minor leaguers isn't all that impressive. IMO Kendall is one of the worst starting catchers in baseball at this point.

Are you sitting behind Jays glass on "around the horn?"

Roman responds: Maybe.

It is you, Roman - I see you makin' copies all the time.

Roman responds: If it's a fat figure at the copy machine, it's me. I've gained weight. I need to start eating the 6" Subways.

To Noles,

Thanks for the kind words. I just find it hard to believe that, in his 9th season of professional baseball, Bowen is going to improve much more at this point. He's no longer a prospect, to be sure, and I can't imagine him even approaching the kind of career that, say, Todd Pratt had as a big-league backup catcher.

Plus, I think I read a comment from Billy Beane that said Suzuki would be his starter, and that Mike Piazza would become the backup catcher when he comes off the DL. If that's what Oakland chooses to do, is there even a roster spot for Bowen at that point? He could find himself designated for assignment again.

As with most trades, we'll know a few months from now just how effective it was for either team...but to me, this just seems like a no-risk gamble for the Cubs. We weren't getting any production at all from our catchers (Koyie Hill's last two games notwithstanding), so if Kendall is a bust, we don't get any worse. Personally, I think Soto should be starting most days, but I think there are some concerns about his plate discipline.

Kind of like a younger Peter Gammons?

I was trying to look today for a sign on ATH and Mariotti got cut so fast I couldn't even tell. Man, who is prepping that guy?

I was at the game w/ Bonds 2 homers and Kendall looks lame out there.
Hes not moving well and looked clueless.
Hill looks healthier and more robust and more awake, he should be our #1 and hopefully he can hit 240

Koyie Hill, if given a chance, will become the best Cubs catcher we've had in decades.

That's right, someone needed to say it. I've argued on this blog vociferously that Barrett needed to be fired and that Hill would give us a better chance of winning, and look what happened. Our winning percentage with Hill behind the plate must be around 70%.

Hill calls a great game, makes our pitchers comfortable, and blocks nearly everything in the dirt. His glove is so solid I often think of him as the anti-Barrett. The only question mark is his throwing arm, which we haven't gotten to see much of. Are opposing runners afraid of him?

Unfortunately, he's also been the anti-Barrett in terms of his hitting, but his approach at the plate is pretty good, and he will eventually break out. One thing that has been unlucky for him is the fact that both of his home runs came the game before we attained a new catcher, so that he has never been able to get into a groove. If he is our starting catcher next year he'll finish the season with 20+ home runs.

That said, Kendall was a good acquisition, just in case Hill's bat doesn't pick up. Bowen was underwhelming with his bat to say the least, and not nearly as good as Hill on defense. He could have been a good addition if his use was limited to facing only left-handed pitchers, but that's not what the Cubs seem to have intended.

Kendall hit .295 last year and we are paying about 1.25 million for a guy who cost 13.2 million to his original team. Also, he has good stats on passed balls and CERA and errors over the past few years. We have HIll, Soto, and one other guy (Fox?) waiting in the wings, so we didn't need Bowen despite his potential. This was a very good trade, unless that reliever we traded ends up being hot stuff.

Keep up the good work Hendry. Now please get us some middle relief or a closer. I hear Gagne might be on the block.

Go Cubs!

Good stuff John S, makes sense!

Good stuff John S, makes sense!

Thanks bculzie, although now I'm eating my words. Kendall looks like another Barrett - as good with a bat as he is bad with a glove. Meanwhile, Hill continues to look awesome with his glove and is struggling terribly with his bat. He's stepping in the bucket and there seems to be no pitch he can handle, which is too bad since he is such a good catcher that we don't need him to hit all that great, as long as he can at least get close to .250, or .200 :)

Don't know why I'm writing this since no one will probably read this, but I still think Hill is a better bet than Kendall just because his position is so important, and eventually he'll have to get a few hits based on the law of averages.