Cubs Trade Rob Bowen and Jerry Blevins for Jason Kendall

[Andy]

What a pointless series of trades.

 

I'd rather have just kept Barrett. He's MUCH more likely to have a better second half than Singles McKendall.

 

This was a deal to make a deal.

 

I'm coming to the conclusion Barrett was our biggest problem the past 2 years. Notice our record since Barrett departed and notice the Padres record when Barrett starts. It's not good for the Padres.

 

my goodness, this is driving me nuts here lately. since barrett left the era has been the same. the catchers have obviously hit worse. how in the holy hell do you figure that barrett's mere presence alone was the difference between a team that was five games under .500 and a team that's playing like .700 ball? you have got to be freaking kidding me to even believe for one second such an idiotic notion.

 

i mean, really, the fact that the cubs have improved so much has nothing to do with zambrano having like a 1 era over the last two months or marmol pitching like mariano rivera or soriano hitting like 15 homers in the past six weeks or theriot and fontenot taking turns being impossible outs or rameriz jacking game winning hits left and right or lee having like a .800 babip or bob howry deciding to stop pitching like total crap or ted lilly pitching awesome or kaz matsui bobbling that grounder or angel pagan playing out of his rear. no...it's all because the devil curse of michael barrett has been magically lifted by the swoop of harry potter's wizard wand and presto suddenly the team is better. he was such a terrible influence on the team that if he had been on the team yesterday instead of hitting a 3 run homer derrek lee would have been like, "you know what...i could hit a homer here, but michael barrett has been really mean to me lately, so i'm going to pop out instead." and just tonight, i heard ramirez say that koyie hill brought him a cup of chicken noodle soup when he had a tummy ache, so he felt strong enough to pelt one off the wall (barrett, of course, was known to kick ramirez in the face whenever he got tummy aches).

 

the fact that there has been such a dramatic improvement goes even further to disprove such a stupid idea. i mean, seriously, is he such a destructive force that the day he left the team immediately improved from a .450 team to a .700 team? can you even wrap your head around how completely ridiculous that is? you'd have a better argument if they improved two games.

 

as if the catcher's era crap we had to endure wasn't stupid enough, now we get catcher's winning percentage?

This is a Hall of Fame post and should be placed in some sort of easily-accessible area to throw at the correlation/causation crowd whenever it's brought up.

[Balsa]

*INCREDIBLY AWESOME POST BY ABUCK*

 

That was incredibly awesome. Thank you!

 

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

[Jazz]

What a pointless series of trades.

 

I'd rather have just kept Barrett. He's MUCH more likely to have a better second half than Singles McKendall.

 

This was a deal to make a deal.

 

I'm coming to the conclusion Barrett was our biggest problem the past 2 years. Notice our record since Barrett departed and notice the Padres record when Barrett starts. It's not good for the Padres.

 

my goodness, this is driving me nuts here lately. since barrett left the era has been the same. the catchers have obviously hit worse. how in the holy hell do you figure that barrett's mere presence alone was the difference between a team that was five games under .500 and a team that's playing like .700 ball? you have got to be freaking kidding me to even believe for one second such an idiotic notion.

 

i mean, really, the fact that the cubs have improved so much has nothing to do with zambrano having like a 1 era over the last two months or marmol pitching like mariano rivera or soriano hitting like 15 homers in the past six weeks or theriot and fontenot taking turns being impossible outs or rameriz jacking game winning hits left and right or lee having like a .800 babip or bob howry deciding to stop pitching like total crap or ted lilly pitching awesome or kaz matsui bobbling that grounder or angel pagan playing out of his rear. no...it's all because the devil curse of michael barrett has been magically lifted by the swoop of harry potter's wizard wand and presto suddenly the team is better. he was such a terrible influence on the team that if he had been on the team yesterday instead of hitting a 3 run homer derrek lee would have been like, "you know what...i could hit a homer here, but michael barrett has been really mean to me lately, so i'm going to pop out instead." and just tonight, i heard ramirez say that koyie hill brought him a cup of chicken noodle soup when he had a tummy ache, so he felt strong enough to pelt one off the wall (barrett, of course, was known to kick ramirez in the face whenever he got tummy aches).

 

the fact that there has been such a dramatic improvement goes even further to disprove such a stupid idea. i mean, seriously, is he such a destructive force that the day he left the team immediately improved from a .450 team to a .700 team? can you even wrap your head around how completely ridiculous that is? you'd have a better argument if they improved two games.

 

as if the catcher's era crap we had to endure wasn't stupid enough, now we get catcher's winning percentage?

 

best post since saorsa's "down with stats or whatever his name is.

[EricG]

At least Kendall can hit his weight.

 

His splits against right handed pitching .282 .300 .246 are a little weird and soto is pretty good against lefties. Maybe it's a perfect platoon.

[Fred Hornkohl]

I haven't had a chance to read any of this thread yet, but I was asked to post these numbers....... so here they are.........

 

A) Five starters while Barrett was on the team

B) Five starters after Barrett was traded

C) Five starters whole season totals

D) Staff as a whole, including relievers

 

 

04/02 - 06/19        IP    H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PC  BB/9   K/9  HR/9  WHIP   ERA
R Hill             89.3   66   34   32   27   79   15  1292  2.72  7.96  1.51  1.04  3.22
Lilly              85.3   73   38   35   17   72   10  1277  1.79  7.59  1.05  1.05  3.69
Marquis            83.0   68   37   29   31   46    7  1309  3.36  4.99  0.76  1.19  3.14
Zambrano           97.3   93   53   49   43   74   15  1661  3.98  6.84  1.39  1.40  4.53
Marshall           38.0   31   13   12   10   31    6   579  2.37  7.34  1.42  1.08  2.84

 

 

06/20 - 07/16        IP    H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PC  BB/9   K/9  HR/9  WHIP   ERA
R Hill             22.7   25   14   14    7   20    4   396  2.78  7.94  1.59  1.41  5.56
Lilly              35.3   27   12   12   11   33    3   544  2.80  8.41  0.76  1.08  3.06
Marquis            26.3   32   22   20   13   18    6   445  4.44  6.15  2.05  1.71  6.84
Zambrano           34.3   18    7    7   14   40    2   578  3.67 10.49  0.52  0.93  1.83
Marshall           13.7   17    9    8    7    7    0   214  4.61  4.61  0.00  1.76  5.27

 

 

04/02 - 07/16        IP    H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PC  BB/9   K/9  HR/9  WHIP   ERA
R Hill            112.0   91   48   46   34   99   19  1688  2.73  7.96  1.53  1.12  3.70
Lilly             120.7  100   50   47   28  105   13  1821  2.09  7.83  0.97  1.06  3.51
Marquis           109.3  100   59   49   44   64   13  1754  3.62  5.27  1.07  1.32  4.03
Zambrano          131.7  111   60   56   57  114   17  2239  3.90  7.79  1.16  1.28  3.83
Marshall           51.7   48   22   20   17   38    6   793  2.96  6.62  1.05  1.26  3.48

 

 

whole staff          IP    H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PC  BB/9   K/9  HR/9  WHIP   ERA
04/02 - 06/19     627.0  562  290  271  227  510   77  9923  3.26  7.32  1.11  1.26  3.89
06/20 - 07/16     193.3  174   90   84   74  181   19  3190  3.44  8.43  0.88  1.28  3.91
04/02 - 07/16     820.3  736  380  355  301  691   96 13113  3.30  7.58  1.05  1.26  3.89

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Some interesting quotes about the trade can be found here.

 

Gary Hughes, the Cubs' special assistant to the GM, ensured Hendry that Kendall, 33, still has the potential to hit.

 

"His second-half career numbers are better than his first," said Hendry, who was told by Hughes that Kendall's bat speed has not diminished despite the decrease in his overall numbers

[SouthSideRyan]

BTF's pegging the salary we'll pay Kendall as $900,000. Definitely manageable.

[Rob]

Dollars to dimes says that we send Soto down instead of just DFAing Hill.

[BigbadB]

BTF's pegging the salary we'll pay Kendall as $900,000. Definitely manageable.

 

Cool. By my calculation, that's Henry Blanco money.

 

Any chance we could trade Blanco, Hill and Kendall for a starting catcher?

 

I'd rather have Piazza.

[Shavo]

Awesome post abuck, but you don't think that guy was really being serious, do you?

[RammyFanny]

My sum up and personal opinion of the thread and trade:

 

People aren't trying to argue how good of a trade this is, they're just trying to say it isn't bad. If that makes sense...

[CubmanPi]

BTF's pegging the salary we'll pay Kendall as $900,000. Definitely manageable.

This definitely adds value to the trade. Also, it's true that Kendall has stunk this year, but I found this side by side comparison of Kendall's numbers and Cubs' catcher production, and aside from the expected lower power numbers, Kendall has been significantly better this year in therms of both BA and defense. The difference won't turn any heads, but with the low price tag and potential for any sort of second half offensive rebound, this trade looks to be a small but definite improvement.

 

And rock on, abuck.

[RammyFanny]

A bit of surprising feedback from the A's board:

This has to be a house cleaning move because there is no excuse to get so little in return, even with Kendall's cruddy numbers.....I'd like to stay optimistic and say "lets wait and see what they do" but its getting really hard to do.

 

The season was for the most part over, but shipping Kendall cinches it.

 

Kendall was the inner guts of this team and especially of the pitching staff. This fellow worked his butt off every game, and he helped make the A's pitching staff, even though severely crippled with numerous injuries, one of the best in baseball.

The only way the A's could save the season is if they brought in 6 or 7 established players as the Yankees did a few years ago, but that would most likely be costly in many ways (not to mention that they don't have the money to do it anyway), and that probably still would not get the A's back in the chase. The A's had better look ahead to next year or that year could be a rough one too.

All I have to say is loosing Kendall is loosing any chance the A's have. I have been a fan since the A's were in KC and I have lived in the Bay since 1968. I have seen many trades and this was not a good choice. Billy was not thinking straight on this one. Kendall may not of batted that great but he got on base when it counted. As a catcher he is one of if not the best in baseball today. Haren, Blanton and the other pitchers trusted him and he helpped them look good. This was a bad call in my book. a very bad call. I hope the pitchers can pick themselves up ,yet I am very concerned they will not this season. Kendall knew every batter and those he did not know he studied before the game. However you feel about Kendall, he was a dang good catcher. The Cubs got them a gem.

I know, it's cleanly handling balls from the outfield (also bad at), it's not throwing the ball into center field on a steal (also bad at).

 

He was okay at fielding wild pitches, but basically his defense was mediocre at best.

 

The main thing that we lose is chemestry because the players liked him.

 

You know what, winning builds chemestry, and he wasn't helping much in that department.

 

I don't hate him, and I don't mean to talk trash, but I don't think losing kendall costs us anything.

 

I think that by the end of the season suzuki will be as good or better than Kendall at every aspect of the game.

I agree, It does seem like Kendall called a good game, and I hope that Haren and Gaudin don't start to pitch poorly.

 

There was obviously a couple "Glad he's gone, he sucked" ones too, but surprisingly mostly everyone didn't like it. And people kept saying they disagreed with a guy who put down Kendall's D.

[TruffleShuffle]

I don't have a chubb for veterans the way that Dusty does, but it's a lot of pressure to throw a rookie into an everyday job in which he's hitting and handling the pitching staff. And it's not like Soto would've had a safety net either, since the other two guys stunk.

 

Kendall is a veteran who, by nearly all accounts, is liked by his pitchers and teammates. He won't have any trouble handling the pressure of the stretch run, and as recently as last year, he was a fairly productive player. Will he hit for power? Not at all. But if he can get his OBP up into the .340 range, he'll remove the "auto out" status of our catching situation.

 

I don't think it's a huge deal, but it's not a bad move either, especially given the price.

 

 

And, as a side note, can we finally admit that the Barrett deal had nothing to do with the abilities of the players involved, and everything to do with getting Barrett off this team? I'm not saying that I necessarily agree or disagree with the move, but that was nowhere close to being the "baseball-motivated only" move that the Cub brass tried to play it off as.

[Bote McBoteface]

Wow...didn't expect that from the A's fans. If they think that highly of a guy who's numbers look ridiculously bad, perhaps there is something we're missing. I'm not going to completely change my opinion on the matter...at best this is a mediocre trade in my opinion, but those comments from the A's fans certainly sound good to me.

[Yestheydo]

Wow...didn't expect that from the A's fans. If they think that highly of a guy who's numbers look ridiculously bad, perhaps there is something we're missing. I'm not going to completely change my opinion on the matter...at best this is a mediocre trade in my opinion, but those comments from the A's fans certainly sound good to me.

 

You mean maybe we should wait and actually see how he does before arrogantly denouncing it as a horrible move? You must be new here.

[WrigleyinEngland]

I really don't mind this deal at all. He is going to gain the trust of our pitchers and should provide better at bats down the stretch than bowen/Hill. I know it's easy to say Soto will outproduce Kendall in every single way but can you guarantee that in a playoff run?? That would of heaped the pressure on to Soto to produce. I still feel we're 2 away from the promised land. We have to find someone to protect A-Ram if Floyd isn't up to it and i would like to see a vet SP for the final few months. Would this work??

 

Cubs Get Griffey Jr and Bronson Arroyo + Cash

 

Cin gets Gallagher,Murton,Jones and eyre

[wvcbxl]

I think this is Hendry's "now they can't say I haven't done any moves" trade.

 

If the Cubs are really paying him only 900,000, I guess I can live with the deal.

[CubColtPacer]

BTF's pegging the salary we'll pay Kendall as $900,000. Definitely manageable.

 

So that means the Cubs didn't actually take on any money whatsoever in this series of catcher trades. They saved about .97 million from Barrett, paid approximately 70K to Bowen for his month, and then are going to pay the remaining 900K in savings they got to Kendall.

[Outshined_One]

BTF's pegging the salary we'll pay Kendall as $900,000. Definitely manageable.

 

So that means the Cubs didn't actually take on any money whatsoever in this series of catcher trades. They saved about .97 million from Barrett, paid approximately 70K to Bowen for his month, and then are going to pay the remaining 900K in savings they got to Kendall.

 

Go figure.

 

So, can the Cubs still add salary?

[Banedon]

LOL...Comcast just talked about the deal and then showed a graphic that showed his CERA...:roll:

 

Hendry really hit all the cliches too..."His recommendations were off the charts"..."It was a no-brainer for us"..."His career OBP is off the charts"...

[CubColtPacer]

BTF's pegging the salary we'll pay Kendall as $900,000. Definitely manageable.

 

So that means the Cubs didn't actually take on any money whatsoever in this series of catcher trades. They saved about .97 million from Barrett, paid approximately 70K to Bowen for his month, and then are going to pay the remaining 900K in savings they got to Kendall.

 

Go figure.

 

So, can the Cubs still add salary?

 

They keep insisting they can. I'm sure you heard the report on ESPN last night that they were assured that the Cubs had "a lot of flexibility to add payroll" at the deadline even with the ownership change. It remains to be seen what that really means.

[Vinestal]

BTF's pegging the salary we'll pay Kendall as $900,000. Definitely manageable.

 

So that means the Cubs didn't actually take on any money whatsoever in this series of catcher trades. They saved about .97 million from Barrett, paid approximately 70K to Bowen for his month, and then are going to pay the remaining 900K in savings they got to Kendall.

 

Go figure.

 

So, can the Cubs still add salary?

 

They keep insisting they can. I'm sure you heard the report on ESPN last night that they were assured that the Cubs had "a lot of flexibility to add payroll" at the deadline even with the ownership change. It remains to be seen what that really means.

 

Even if you have the flexibility you have to find trade partners who have what you want and are willing to give it to you in a reasonble trade. If we cant find that people are surely going to whine about the Cubs not being willing to add payroll. Sometimes there's just nothing availible for a reasonable price.

[CubinNY]

A bit of surprising feedback from the A's board:

This has to be a house cleaning move because there is no excuse to get so little in return, even with Kendall's cruddy numbers.....I'd like to stay optimistic and say "lets wait and see what they do" but its getting really hard to do.

 

The season was for the most part over, but shipping Kendall cinches it.

 

Kendall was the inner guts of this team and especially of the pitching staff. This fellow worked his butt off every game, and he helped make the A's pitching staff, even though severely crippled with numerous injuries, one of the best in baseball.

The only way the A's could save the season is if they brought in 6 or 7 established players as the Yankees did a few years ago, but that would most likely be costly in many ways (not to mention that they don't have the money to do it anyway), and that probably still would not get the A's back in the chase. The A's had better look ahead to next year or that year could be a rough one too.

All I have to say is loosing Kendall is loosing any chance the A's have. I have been a fan since the A's were in KC and I have lived in the Bay since 1968. I have seen many trades and this was not a good choice. Billy was not thinking straight on this one. Kendall may not of batted that great but he got on base when it counted. As a catcher he is one of if not the best in baseball today. Haren, Blanton and the other pitchers trusted him and he helpped them look good. This was a bad call in my book. a very bad call. I hope the pitchers can pick themselves up ,yet I am very concerned they will not this season. Kendall knew every batter and those he did not know he studied before the game. However you feel about Kendall, he was a dang good catcher. The Cubs got them a gem.

I know, it's cleanly handling balls from the outfield (also bad at), it's not throwing the ball into center field on a steal (also bad at).

 

He was okay at fielding wild pitches, but basically his defense was mediocre at best.

 

The main thing that we lose is chemestry because the players liked him.

 

You know what, winning builds chemestry, and he wasn't helping much in that department.

 

I don't hate him, and I don't mean to talk trash, but I don't think losing kendall costs us anything.

 

I think that by the end of the season suzuki will be as good or better than Kendall at every aspect of the game.

I agree, It does seem like Kendall called a good game, and I hope that Haren and Gaudin don't start to pitch poorly.

 

There was obviously a couple "Glad he's gone, he sucked" ones too, but surprisingly mostly everyone didn't like it. And people kept saying they disagreed with a guy who put down Kendall's D.

Who gives a crap about what people say on a message board.

 

This was a trade brought about by an unnecessary trade of Barrett.

 

Kendall might have been the answer when the Pirates were trying to get rid of him, but he isn't now. To me this trade makes the Cubs slightly better but nothing that "puts them over the top". I'd like to see the Cubs add a legitimate power hitter. Then this trade will look a lot better. Kendall can get on base (this season nothwithstanding).

 

Until then the Cubs better keep hoping for more good luck and more good pitching.

 

Finally, Blevins was having a pretty good year.

[TheRaven]

Thank god Baseball Tonight was wrong and it wasn't Marshall. I nearly had a heart attack.

 

I like this move for the Cubs. I hope it ends up being a true platoon position because I would like to see some more of what DeSoto could do. If they are going to start Kendall the majority of the time though, I would prefer if they sent him back to Iowa to get more ABs though.