A less cynical view of Kendall

by cmkeller on Jan 4, 2010 10:46 AM EST

I'd like to start the new year on a positive-thinking note.

Many here have ridiculed the idea of Jason Kendall serving as a mentor for young catchers in the system, speaking of his "magical teleportation abilities" and the like. Cute enough - obviously, he can't mentor minor leaguers if he's catching in Kansas City. But what if we carry three catchers on the roster like we did all of last year? Surely Brayan Pena can use some veteran guidance, and Manny Pina (our pseudo-Pena) might benefit more from spending time with Kendall than with spending the year in Omaha.

If Wil Myers does well enough this season to end up in Northwest Arkansas by August, then the second year of Kendall's contract may see our best catching prospect in years benefiting from his presence.

So maybe the mentoring idea isn't so off the wall. Sure, he has no power (perhaps a strange segue for a team whose leaders in home runs for two of the last three years played behind the plate) but the Royals, even in the best of years, have never been a power team. Let's say that Dayton Moore learned his lesson from the Guillen, Olivo and Jacobs acquisitions, and won't overrate the importance of raw power anymore.

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I can't see Myers coming up that quickly

Supposedly he needs some time to learn the catching position even if his bat progresses that quickly, and even with the tutelage of Kendall, you don’t want to learn to catch at the MLB level.

I also don’t think we can afford to carry three catchers. Pina will likely start in Omaha. I’m not concerned about the need to tutor him much – he is supposedly MLB ready with the glove.

I guess I just don’t see much benefit. I’d rather hire an ex-catcher to be a bench coach and save the money – we already hired Seitzer, why not hire his partner Mike Macfarlane?

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jan 4, 2010 11:35 AM EST reply actions

Mostly agree

but let’s be realistic about Pina — at this point, he’d have to be one of the best defensive catchers in baseball be above replacement level. He has about the same odds of being a worthy major league starter as Alex Gordon does of winning a batting title.

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by Matt Klaassen on Jan 4, 2010 11:48 AM EST up reply actions

Well, someone has to mind the shop.

Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!

by cmkeller on Jan 4, 2010 12:34 PM EST up reply actions

Pena is 28 this week

If he hasn’t learnt to catch yet, no amount of “mentoring” from Kendall is going to change it. He is what he is, he’s not some rookie 21 year old.

by kcbottom9th on Jan 4, 2010 11:52 AM EST reply actions

tend to agree

by Freneau on Jan 4, 2010 12:08 PM EST up reply actions

He may be somewhat old

But he entered last year as practically a rookie. While there may be some skills in which a 28-year-old is too set in his ways to change (I’m looking at you, Mike Jacobs), I imagine Jason Kendall might be able to tutor a guy in the subtleties of pitch-calling or runner-catching, certainly better than any influence John Buck or Miguel Olivo might have had on him last year.

Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!

by cmkeller on Jan 4, 2010 2:11 PM EST up reply actions

you do make some valid points about Kendall

however, here would be my counters

1. if they really care about mentoring that much, the royals should hire better coaches.
2. it is true in the past that GMDM has overvalued power, and Kendall is a break from that. however, Kendall’s game has completely eroded all the way around. he replaced two guys who have all-power games with a guy that has an all-nothing game. Kendall hit .214/.331/.305 last season, in the national league, where he batted 8th, a vast majority of the time. I don’t think he can get on base at .331 again without a pitcher hitting behind him

by Freneau on Jan 4, 2010 1:27 PM EST reply actions

I don't see this as evidence that GMDM has changed his thoughts about power ...

… rather he continues to view players – and roles – in traditional ways. He has a traditionalists view of what a catcher is supposed to be. A catcher, in GMDM’s world, is the gritty field general who calls the game, sets the defense, and generally “takes charge”. That’s what Kendall does, and that makes Kendall highly valuable. Power is not a consideration for a catcher; certainly it’s vastly less important to Moore than the other intangible catcher qualities.

So I don’t think that punting power at the catcher means anything other than Moore filling the catcher spot with someone who better fits his traditionalist’s conception of what the position requires.

by Steve Nelson on Jan 4, 2010 2:33 PM EST up reply actions

I hadn’t even thought of the ‘hitting eighth’ aspect. I knew he’d take a hit moving to the tougher league, but he’d certainly lose all 6 of those IBBs he had last year, plus a couple walks where the pitcher wasn’t really trying to get him out. Makes the signing even worse…

Let's just trust the process.

by trusttheprocess on Jan 4, 2010 3:27 PM EST up reply actions

didn't you hear about the inspirational t-shirts he ordered from Cafe Press?

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.

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by Matt Klaassen on Jan 4, 2010 4:08 PM EST up reply actions

Nosotros Creemos?

Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!

by cmkeller on Jan 4, 2010 4:12 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

hee hee

One of our Spanish-speakers needs to come up with a Kendall equivalent

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jan 4, 2010 4:54 PM EST up reply actions

Here's a few

Viva la Gallina! – Long live the wuss! (literally means, long live the hen!)

Zorra de Primera Base! – First Base Slut!

Defensor de las Joyas Reales – Royal Jewels Defender (could change Reales to Corona which would mean Crown Jewel Defender).

El huevo que Dayton colocó. – The egg that Dayton laid.

So Juancho, do these actually say that, or did the online translator mangle it?

by AxDxMx on Jan 4, 2010 7:44 PM EST up reply actions

I applaud your starting the year on a positive note

Especially after I dropped a drizzly turd shower on everybody with that GMH poem the other day.

In a pretty-darn-good-case scenario, your analysis seems plausible. Not compelling, but relatively plausible. Perhaps relatively plausible is the best we can hope at this point in the proceedings.

"Shot by my own men."

by StonewallPDS on Jan 4, 2010 1:54 PM EST reply actions

agreed

but there’s that word “hope” again

Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot...buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath & Beyond, I don't know...I don't know if we'll have enough time.

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jan 4, 2010 2:07 PM EST up reply actions