Cubs Trade Rob Bowen and Jerry Blevins for Jason Kendall

[Mizzou]

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

Well, he accumulated those numbers when he was good and on the Pirates

Yeah. But are you really ready to just conclude that he's done based off of one bad year out of twelve? Seriously, Kendall has been a good player for 11 out of 12 years. I'm not going to deny his suckiness this year, but I'm also not going to assume that it will continue (especially when you look at his last month and a half).

 

No, he's been bad for several years. He hasn't had an OPS+ of 100 or better since 2004.

No he hasn't. Just because he doesn't hit for power doesn't make him bad.

[Dirt Dog Sparly]

I dont like the trade at all. But since he is a Cub, lets go Jason Kendall.

 

:gallon blue kool-aid:

[Jon]

Looks like Kendall had a solid June...and has been great in the OBP department his entire career...if he can catch a decent game, and can put up a .330+ OBP he's better than what we had and I like giving Soto a year as a back up....color me not too upset.

He's making $13 million plus this season.

 

Well, the pirates are paying 5 million of that 13. That leaves 8 and I'm pretty sure the A's would pick up close to half of that. This is the last year of the contract and his PECOTA for this year is:

 

.274/.346/.333

 

Not great but not terrible. Let's hope he can turn his season around to something around that line. I'm going to let this one play out before i'm ready to throw in the season.

That's still $3.5 million the A's were on the hook for the remainder of the season. Maybe the A's will pick up half of that, but that's still money lost for further potential moves this offseason and a pretty decent trading chip in Blevins that would be pretty appealing for any small or mid market team.

Edited July 17, 2007 by Jon

[Bruce Miles]

This is a Gary Hughes-scouted deal. Extensively. Now we'll have something to get a handle on as far as Hughes is concerned once this one settles.

[CUBZ99]

This is a Gary Hughes-scouted deal. Extensively. Now we'll have something to get a handle on as far as Hughes is concerned once this one settles.

 

Lets hope this turns out like the Grudz trade and Kendall can get his stroke back.

[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.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

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

Well, he accumulated those numbers when he was good and on the Pirates

Yeah. But are you really ready to just conclude that he's done based off of one bad year out of twelve? Seriously, Kendall has been a good player for 11 out of 12 years. I'm not going to deny his suckiness this year, but I'm also not going to assume that it will continue (especially when you look at his last month and a half).

 

No, he's been bad for several years. He hasn't had an OPS+ of 100 or better since 2004.

No he hasn't. Just because he doesn't hit for power doesn't make him bad.

 

I don't think you understand how few extra bases Kendall hits. ESPN's not working with the sorting, but I'm relatively confident he's the worst in baseball in IsoP, at least bottom 5.

[Shavo]

I guess now we have a catcher that could be a decent hitter and get on base, although its not a sure thing with the year he is having.

 

Losing Bowen and Blevins is nothing too.

Edited July 17, 2007 by Shavo

[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

[imb]

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.

[mul21]

Now, I know we're all a bunch of sabremetric people on this site (for the most part anyway), but you get different things out of different players. I would rather have a guy like Kendall in the 2 spot with the potential for a .350-.380 OBP than a guy like we've had in the past who had a .330 OBP and .700 OPS when you've got Lee, Ramirez, and sometimes Floyd hitting behind him to drive him in. Everybody has been a big fan of Kenny Lofton in his hayday. How much power did he hit for? Pretty good guy to have at the top of the lineup though.

[Mizzou]

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

Well, he accumulated those numbers when he was good and on the Pirates

Yeah. But are you really ready to just conclude that he's done based off of one bad year out of twelve? Seriously, Kendall has been a good player for 11 out of 12 years. I'm not going to deny his suckiness this year, but I'm also not going to assume that it will continue (especially when you look at his last month and a half).

 

No, he's been bad for several years. He hasn't had an OPS+ of 100 or better since 2004.

No he hasn't. Just because he doesn't hit for power doesn't make him bad.

 

I don't think you understand how few extra bases Kendall hits. ESPN's not working with the sorting, but I'm relatively confident he's the worst in baseball in IsoP, at least bottom 5.

Looks like a little more than one every four games. Again, he's not the most ideal player in that he doesn't do EVERYTHING. But he hits for average and knows how to get on base. I'll take that. Especially considering the alternatives.

[UK1679666180]

How is his defense?

 

Getting worse every year.

 

So is mine...but what does "getting worse" mean...I assume he's still better than Barrett was...

 

He doesn't have have the same pop time as before, hasn't been too good at blocking balls, just isn't prone to dumb mistakes like Barrett.

[Wilson A2000]

He knows how, but that's as far as it goes with him this year

[nilodnayr]

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!!!

[DivineBovine]

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.

 

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on the subject.

 

 

Mine too. I've gotten crucified for suggesting we trade Angel Guzman once, or Bobby Browlie. Gimme a break. I really don't know much about Blevins, but I won't lose any sleep over a AA pitcher. I think Hendry sucks as much as anyone, but I really can't think of many prospects/young players he's traded away that have blown up his face.

 

Kendall has potential to be a solid contributor. I'll take the deal, provided it's not costing too much money. Let's see what everyone thinks at the end of the year about this one.

[imb]

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

Well, he accumulated those numbers when he was good and on the Pirates

Yeah. But are you really ready to just conclude that he's done based off of one bad year out of twelve? Seriously, Kendall has been a good player for 11 out of 12 years. I'm not going to deny his suckiness this year, but I'm also not going to assume that it will continue (especially when you look at his last month and a half).

 

No, he's been bad for several years. He hasn't had an OPS+ of 100 or better since 2004.

No he hasn't. Just because he doesn't hit for power doesn't make him bad.

 

I don't think you understand how few extra bases Kendall hits. ESPN's not working with the sorting, but I'm relatively confident he's the worst in baseball in IsoP, at least bottom 5.

Looks like a little more than one every four games. Again, he's not the most ideal player in that he doesn't do EVERYTHING. But he hits for average and knows how to get on base. I'll take that. Especially considering the alternatives.

 

.226/.261

 

He'll probably hit better than that in the second half, but .226/.261

[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.

[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.

[UK1679666180]

How is his defense?

 

Getting worse every year.

 

So is mine...but what does "getting worse" mean...I assume he's still better than Barrett was...

 

He doesn't have have the same pop time as before, hasn't been too good at blocking balls, just isn't prone to dumb mistakes like Barrett.

 

I should also include he has a big pair, mentally tough, and a good teammate.

 

If Perry can correct what has gone wrong and it isn't age, he can valuable.

 

But as I said earlier he has gone from avg. to bad defensively.

[Guest]

didn't you hear hendry? He's a gamer and he knows how to win!

[imb]

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.

 

The numbers are actually quite good.

 

The bad news is that he was much younger and much better when he put them up. He's not the same player anymore.

[Mizzou]

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.

And in each of those last two years, his AVG/OBP were 271/345 and 295/367.

[shnsajax]

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

[Wilson A2000]

Baseball Tonight just said Marshall was traded