Cubs Trade Rob Bowen and Jerry Blevins for Jason Kendall

[CUBZ99]

ESPN Baseball tonight just said Marshall was traded for Kendall????

[mul21]

Finally got it to work. Kendall was dead last of all qualified hitters in IsoP each of the last 2 years, and is 3rd from last this year.

 

I'd rather have a guy who might hit .280-.300 with a .350-.380 OBP (just potential not that he will or I expect him to) and every single hit is a single than watch the crap that has been going out there evry day lately. I can't imagine the catcher position has been much better than .200/.250/.300 since Barrett got traded.

[Shavo]

According to Baseball Tonight the Cubs traded ... Marshall.

 

???

[Iceblink]

Giving up Marshall to rent Kendall would be a horrible trade.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Finally got it to work. Kendall was dead last of all qualified hitters in IsoP each of the last 2 years, and is 3rd from last this year.

 

I'd rather have a guy who might hit .280-.300 with a .350-.380 OBP (just potential not that he will or I expect him to) and every single hit is a single than watch the crap that has been going out there evry day lately. I can't imagine the catcher position has been much better than .200/.250/.300 since Barrett got traded.

 

Guess who's been worse than a .550 OPS this year? Kendall.

[SAMMYWHO]

I like this move.

 

Kendall is obviously having a poor year, and was dreadful in the first two months, but he hit .295 in the month of June, so he's getting better. And it's not like he's always been bad. In fact, he's always been solid up until this year. He's a career .298 hitter with a .375 OBP. And that includes this year. Our catchers have sucked this year - even worse than Kendall has. He will surely be an upgrade. I'd be willing to wager that he hits at least .270 with a .340 OBP for us. Probably better than that.

 

And while it would've been nice to keep Blevins, the prospect who was nothing short of flat out terrible the last two years, who is having a great year this year, I'm not going to get upset about trading a relief pitcher in AA. I always read on here how relievers are so unpredictable and vary from year to year, yet people are flipping out about dealing this guy... who sucked for two years, and is good now. It's comical.

 

and I'll wager his OPS will still be below 700

 

I didn't realize you expected a lot of slugging out of your two hole, especially from a catcher. I've been reading for a while and it wasn't long ago we had Neifi and Macias in there batting in the two hole. It could be worse.

Slugging out of your two hole isnt important...if you dont want to score runs.

I disagree, OBP is more important than slugging out of your two hole. If Piniella got some balls and batted Soriano where he needs to bat, you leave it up to guys like Theriot, Fontenot and now Kendall to get on base and Lee, Ramirez and Soriano to drive them in. That's a perfect world but I know, I'm just a Cubby fan.

 

His OBP this year is .261, so he better get that up, because he's hitting like a Neifi/Macias love child.

Check the post underneath your's. You made it sound like all you need is slugging out of the two hole. I disagreed, you kind of took back what you said. I was saying there's more to the two hole than slugging, I'd like both but that's extremely rare. I think we're both right, but it's not available.

[Mizzou]

Giving up Marshall to rent Kendall would be a horrible trade.

Yeah, that would be terrible. I assume that they're wrong though... did Hendry comment on who was traded when he was on the air earlier?

[nilodnayr]

Kendall's career numbers against the other NL Central teams... (AVG/OBP)

 

MIL: .291/.381

HOU: .307/.395

STL: .309/.374

CIN: .317/.404

 

And his career 2nd half numbers are .308/.384

 

GET THOSE OPTIMISTIC NUMBERS OUT OF HERE!

 

GET THOSE NUMBERS THAT DONT MEAN ANYTHING OUT OF HERE

 

:?: He's not the second coming of Johnny Bench, but those aren't bad numbers, especially for a catcher. We need him to produce for a few months, hopefully he will hit like last year. If not, Lou has shown he will play guys that produce so Soto could get the nod down the road if Kendall continues to struggle.

 

I meant they didnt mean anything because they are from many moons ago and are not indicative of the current Jason Kendall.

[Roast]

Baseball Tonight just said Marshall was traded

 

BBTN is wrong.

 

they better damn well be wrong or i will kill something.

[Sarcastic]

BBTN says we sent Marshall for Kendell? Hope they are wrong.

 

I heard this too. Has this been reported anywhere else, or was it just an ESPN blooper?

[Iceblink]

The Cubs.com page still says Blevins and Bowen, though it is from Muskat.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070716&content_id=2090118&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Edited July 17, 2007 by Iceblink

[karenmac]

more on what we gave up with Blevins

http://firstinning.com/players/Jerry-Blevins-a

 

Jerry was the closer here in Peoria in 2005 and was very effective. He had arm issues in 2006, and then spent the winter of 2006-2007 in Colombia playing ball there. He's a great clubhouse guy too. Drat that the Cubs let him go.

[Mizzou]

The Cubs.com page still says Blevins and Bowen, though it is from Muskat.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070716&content_id=2090118&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

I'll trust the Cubs website over a show that employs John Kruk.

[Skyballer]

did we really give up marshall espn said we did.

[Wilson A2000]

The ESPN ticker doesn't mention Marshall. They must have used the mlb.con article as a source. Do the Cubs even have another fifth starter?

[hardcorecubfan]

Giving up Marshall to rent Kendall would be a horrible trade.

Yeah, that would be terrible. I assume that they're wrong though... did Hendry comment on who was traded when he was on the air earlier?

 

what was that comment about on BBT?

Be a bit tough considering marshall is starting tomarrow

Edited July 17, 2007 by hardcorecubfan

[Outshined_One]

Yeah, it's not exactly like the Cubs have anyone ready to step up and fill in for Marshall at the moment. Gallagher's being bounced around and Mateo's still rehabbing.

[mul21]

Finally got it to work. Kendall was dead last of all qualified hitters in IsoP each of the last 2 years, and is 3rd from last this year.

 

I'd rather have a guy who might hit .280-.300 with a .350-.380 OBP (just potential not that he will or I expect him to) and every single hit is a single than watch the crap that has been going out there evry day lately. I can't imagine the catcher position has been much better than .200/.250/.300 since Barrett got traded.

 

Guess who's been worse than a .550 OPS this year? Kendall.

 

Yes, he's been bad this year. No I'm not jumping up and down that they gave up a potentially good arm to get him. But the guy does have a history of being able to get hits and get on base. He's probably not going to OPS above .700, but if he hits in the 2 spot, I really don't care as long as he's getting on base at a .350 clip.

[Roast]

The Cubs made a deal for veteran catcher Jason Kendall of the A's during Monday's game against the Giants. Chicago dealt catcher Rob Bowen and Minor League lefty Jerry Blevins

 

That's from Cubs.com.

[anabiono]

freaking billy beane!

 

i hope this kid doesn't dominate

[SAMMYWHO]

I like this move.

 

Kendall is obviously having a poor year, and was dreadful in the first two months, but he hit .295 in the month of June, so he's getting better. And it's not like he's always been bad. In fact, he's always been solid up until this year. He's a career .298 hitter with a .375 OBP. And that includes this year. Our catchers have sucked this year - even worse than Kendall has. He will surely be an upgrade. I'd be willing to wager that he hits at least .270 with a .340 OBP for us. Probably better than that.

 

And while it would've been nice to keep Blevins, the prospect who was nothing short of flat out terrible the last two years, who is having a great year this year, I'm not going to get upset about trading a relief pitcher in AA. I always read on here how relievers are so unpredictable and vary from year to year, yet people are flipping out about dealing this guy... who sucked for two years, and is good now. It's comical.

 

and I'll wager his OPS will still be below 700

 

I didn't realize you expected a lot of slugging out of your two hole, especially from a catcher. I've been reading for a while and it wasn't long ago we had Neifi and Macias in there batting in the two hole. It could be worse.

Slugging out of your two hole isnt important...if you dont want to score runs.

I disagree, OBP is more important than slugging out of your two hole. If Piniella got some balls and batted Soriano where he needs to bat, you leave it up to guys like Theriot, Fontenot and now Kendall to get on base and Lee, Ramirez and Soriano to drive them in. That's a perfect world but I know, I'm just a Cubby fan.

 

Odd, on my computer it doesnt say that i said OBP is less important than slugging out of the 2 hole (or anywhere). Crazy, must be some sort of virus. You know what would also be nice...if Kendall would take a walk. 3.9 BB% this year? Seriously? His IsoD is .035!!!

Jeez, somebody tell him about that stat, it looks like he forgot how to take a walk.

I can't believe all the negativity on this board. We got a guy who's had a real good career, probably won't put up those career stats at this stage but it's still a hell of a lot better than what we had. Who cares about this year, the man couldn't of forgot how to play the game completely could he? I'll ride this out and not murder any positive people until proven otherwise. I seriously doubt he'll play that horrible for us. I guess time will tell.

[Sarcastic]

The ESPN ticker doesn't mention Marshall. They must have used the mlb.con article as a source. Do the Cubs even have another fifth starter?

 

When I heard them say that, I was afraid they were thinking about moving Dempster to the rotation again.

[nilodnayr]

On the positive side, Kendall has had a very low BABIP this year, 243. About 70 points lower than what is expected. On the negative side, hes forgotten how to walk.

[weis21]

Kendall's career numbers against the other NL Central teams... (AVG/OBP)

 

MIL: .291/.381

HOU: .307/.395

STL: .309/.374

CIN: .317/.404

 

And his career 2nd half numbers are .308/.384

 

GET THOSE OPTIMISTIC NUMBERS OUT OF HERE!

 

GET THOSE NUMBERS THAT DONT MEAN ANYTHING OUT OF HERE

 

:?: He's not the second coming of Johnny Bench, but those aren't bad numbers, especially for a catcher. We need him to produce for a few months, hopefully he will hit like last year. If not, Lou has shown he will play guys that produce so Soto could get the nod down the road if Kendall continues to struggle.

 

I meant they didnt mean anything because they are from many moons ago and are not indicative of the current Jason Kendall.

 

And I put the numbers in bold that I was talking about, his .308/.384 CAREER second half numbers. Once again, he batted .297/.368 last year, he's by no means a slugger, but he gets on base alot throughout his career.

[Exile on Waveland]

Kendall's career numbers against the other NL Central teams... (AVG/OBP)

 

MIL: .291/.381

HOU: .307/.395

STL: .309/.374

CIN: .317/.404

 

And his career 2nd half numbers are .308/.384

 

GET THOSE OPTIMISTIC NUMBERS OUT OF HERE!

 

GET THOSE NUMBERS THAT DONT MEAN ANYTHING OUT OF HERE

 

:?: He's not the second coming of Johnny Bench, but those aren't bad numbers, especially for a catcher. We need him to produce for a few months, hopefully he will hit like last year. If not, Lou has shown he will play guys that produce so Soto could get the nod down the road if Kendall continues to struggle.

 

I meant they didnt mean anything because they are from many moons ago and are not indicative of the current Jason Kendall.

 

Yeah, those numbers are nice and all but they mean absolutely nothing.