nilodnayr

While that is a unique characteristic of Oakland, then it would be within reason to expect his FB% to be high last year too. However, last year was right inline with his career. He has 104 FBs as opposed to 130 all of last year and right around 150 the previous years. I don't know anywhere that tracks pop fouls, but that'd have to be an awful lot of pop fouls this year over last to account for the disparity. Also, I wonder if those would be counted as infield fly balls (most of the extended foul territory is in the IF and rarely do corner OFs make it all the way past the line to make foul catches). Hes right inline with his career on that stat. Has anyone mentioned that Gerald Perry (Kendall's hitting coach last year), was heavily in favor of the trade. Maybe Perry has already pinpointed something that Kendall is not doing or believes he can easily get Kendall turned around? I haven't read many of the articles to see if there are quotes from Perry, but word is that this is a Gary Hughes acquisition. I imagine though that being the hitting coach and working with Kendall last year, Perry had a pretty decent say in the matter, so if Perry wasn't behind it, thge trade probably wouldn't have happened. Actually, if Perry wasn't behind it, Hughes most likely wouldn't have even been scouting Kendall.

Yeah, I mentioned a few times his BABIP was only like 243. He does have an 18.7 LD%, but his FB% has increased significantly this year. And since FBs fall for hits at a much lower rate that explains SOME of the BABIP losses. However, hes still getting quite unlucky. BUT, his walk rate is at an all time low of 3.9% (which is bad). In summation, some of Kendall's regression has been his fault, some has been luck. Just eyballing it, I would say its been 50% each. He for sure hasn't performed to the ability that hes showin the past. There is a possibility he could bounce back to his form of the last few seasons, and hitting in Wrigley vs the bottom feeders of the NL will definitely help, but I'd predict his second half performance to fall in the middle of his first half of this year and what hes done the last few years. I expect Kendall's numbers to get better. I hope they bat him in front of Lee though. Lou said hes going to bat him 7th. Frankly, I'd rather have my best hitters as early in the order as possible and have Lee second. But Lou obviously doesnt feel that way, so I'd guess if Kendall gets hot quickly/starts taking more walks, I think he'll move to the 2 hole.

While that is a unique characteristic of Oakland, then it would be within reason to expect his FB% to be high last year too. However, last year was right inline with his career. He has 104 FBs as opposed to 130 all of last year and right around 150 the previous years. I don't know anywhere that tracks pop fouls, but that'd have to be an awful lot of pop fouls this year over last to account for the disparity. Also, I wonder if those would be counted as infield fly balls (most of the extended foul territory is in the IF and rarely do corner OFs make it all the way past the line to make foul catches). Hes right inline with his career on that stat.

While that is a unique characteristic of Oakland, then it would be within reason to expect his FB% to be high last year too. However, last year was right inline with his career. He has 104 FBs as opposed to 130 all of last year and right around 150 the previous years. I don't know anywhere that tracks pop fouls, but that'd have to be an awful lot of pop fouls this year over last to account for the disparity.

Yeah, I mentioned a few times his BABIP was only like 243. He does have an 18.7 LD%, but his FB% has increased significantly this year. And since FBs fall for hits at a much lower rate that explains SOME of the BABIP losses. However, hes still getting quite unlucky. BUT, his walk rate is at an all time low of 3.9% (which is bad). In summation, some of Kendall's regression has been his fault, some has been luck. Just eyballing it, I would say its been 50% each. He for sure hasn't performed to the ability that hes showin the past. There is a possibility he could bounce back to his form of the last few seasons, and hitting in Wrigley vs the bottom feeders of the NL will definitely help, but I'd predict his second half performance to fall in the middle of his first half of this year and what hes done the last few years.

The fact that you forgot that a guy played anymore is probably reason #1 why he wouldnt be of use.

I would have preferred Ramon Hernandez.

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. Is it wrong to judge based on the facts right now? Theres nothing wrong with that, the D-train trade was meh at the time, same with the Hundley trade. In retrospect those are definitely uneven trades, but why can't you use foresight when trying to judge a trade? Unless GMs have crystal balls or deloreans, thats what they are using. And regarding comments from A's fans, just because their GM is Billy Beane doesnt mean I'm going to annoint them all to MENSA. Its ignorant to blindly follow the opinion of others. Just like we really don't know whats going on in the clubhouse, neither do they. Also, paying 900K is a hell of a lot better than the 3.5ish that was originally thought.

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? Before yesterday lee's last HR was June 4th. We have absolutely been on fire in that time period. I sure hope Lee doesnt hit homers.

God, I would have too. Maybe they'll take Kendall and Izturis for Hernandez. Dealin' Jim!!!

I don't even think Hendry looks at stats. To be completely honest, I'm not even that concerned with his offense. Our catchers right now suck. I expect Kendall to suck as well. It's the defense behind the plate that has me concerned. All things being equal, if we have crappy offensive catchers, I'd at least want the best defensive catcher out there so at least he's bringing something to the table. I thought he has worn down into a poor defensive catcher, from reports. cheapseats, can you take your sarcasm hat off for a post and enlighten us with some of his advanced defensive metrics to verify.

Correction Kendall USED to be a sinlges hitter. These days hes an out maker. Now, I know his FB% has skyrocketed this year and is having an adverse impact on his BABIP, he still has an 18.7 LD% and only a 243 BABIP. Hes definitely hurting himself by hitting pop ups and not walking, but hes also getting unlucky. I don't think hes an upgrade, but hes not as bad as hes hitting now.

cheapseats is in sarcasm defcon 5

Kinda like Wellmeyer a few years ago. Or "can't miss" Juan Cruz. Or a whole host of other possibilities that are "something" in the minors but never amount to anything in the majors. Minor leaguers are almost always gonna be an unknown. Hopefully this works in the Cubs favor. But it's not like Blevins was one of the Cubs top prospects for crying out loud. He's had a very good first half in A and AA ball. Or Marshall, Hill, Zambrano, Marmol, etc. when they were in the farm system. Kendall is an unknown at this point, no one knows if he's going to turn it around, I'll repeat what I've said that Perry has worked with Kendall in the past and hopefully it is a somewhat easy correctable mechanical flaw rather than a slower bat. Sure, Blevins doesn't make everyone wet their pants in BA's handbook when he's not listed but he has good stuff and been productive, which gives him value espec. from the left side. If he maintains production throughout the year and stays healthy, he'll be in BA's handbook. I find it ironic that some say that the Cubs got Kendall for nothing, what does that say about Kendall's value? Or like Sisco. Haggerty, Johnson, Beltran, etc., etc., etc. For every star (or even solid MLBer) there's hundreds that never make it but HAD potential. He's a low level pitcher with an unspectacular history until the first half of this season. I reserve judgment. Can't can't be worse than what they've had the last month and he could actually be better. While he had control issues, his K rate is the definition of spectacular. As its been said many times, he was coming off an injury and working on a sidearm motion. Hes back to overhand and dominating. Sure a lot of minor league pitchers with promise never make it. Does that mean we should get rid of them all? Soto can't be worse than what we've had the last month and could be better. And he was free.

Maybe you should wait to see all of the details, as you, yourself admit you don't know how much CASH was coming he Cubs way. If the A's pick up the remainder of Kendall's contract, it is hardly a terrible trade. Blevins may turn out to be a decent player some day, or he may hit a rut in AAA and never make it to the majors. And your statement that Soto would likely produce better than Kendall is based on what? Talk about over valuing minor league numbers. If Kendall can put together a 2nd half in line with his past seasons, the Cubs made a good trade. My entire feeling is based around the fact that its going to be impossible for broken-down shell of his former self Kendall to produce anywhere close to his previous seasons. The Cubs gave up next to nothing to get him. I would rather put my faith in a guy that has produced and put up a .350ish OBP in 2005 and 2006, rather than take my chances with the junk the Cubs have at catcher now. Even if Kendall is terrible it is likely he will outproduce any catcher the Cubs currently have on their roster. Blevins is the only reservation I have about this trade, and until tonight, I have never seen so much love for the guy. Noting? I was under the impression the cubs gave up Barrett (via Bowen), Blevins and 3.5ish Million to get Kendall. Guys, how awesome is it that we get all that back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, because trading a crappy catcher and a minor league relief pitcher for a guy who has been solid in 11 out of his 12 MLB years is always a bad idea. When the catcher is 33 and has played 9 season (save 1 for a horribly disgusting broken ankle) at cather of 143 + games and that 12th season is the current one and by solid you mean league average yeah, it might be a bad idea.

I was gonna bring this exact thing up. I reserve judgment on the deal until Kendall plays a little. Don't know much about Blevins, but didn't really read a whole lot about him on this board in the past. From this thread, I'd have guessed he was one of out top prospects. They don't need "great" production from the C spot, just better than what they had. And there's really no reason they can't keep Soto over Hill, although Hill is a lefty. But he wouldn't be the starter against righties anyway. I read this whole thread and it seems 'much ado about nothing' so far. FYI, if his BABIP in the first half of this year was the same it was in the second half of last year (and all the hits were singles) he'd have about the same OPS.

Newsflash... there are only 10 catchers in baseball with an OPS above 700. And 16 with 200 PAs 700 OPS or above. YAY we can HOPE hes a bottom half catcher!!!!!!!!

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. Even if his luck evened out this year he wouldnt be at a 350 clip. Call me crazy, but I want my best hitters hitting as much as possible. DLee should be in the 2 hole.

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. If you want OBP so much, Jason Kendall may not be the place to get it. I dont care how good he WAS. I care how good he IS. Hes 33, takes a HUGE workload and has a big collapse rate. He has gotten very unlucky as I said, but right now hes another catcher who will put up a sub 700 OPS.

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.

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'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!!!

GET THOSE OPTIMISTIC NUMBERS OUT OF HERE! GET THOSE NUMBERS THAT DONT MEAN ANYTHING OUT OF HERE

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.