Jason Kendall signs a 2 year deal with KC
December 12th, 2009 | by adamburnett |Jason Kendall has come to terms to a 2 year deal worth 6 million with the Kansas City Royals. Watching him with the Brewers I feel that he’s a player on his last legs. I’m glad the Brewers decided to move on from him for the 2010 season. Gregg Zaun isn’t going to be confused with Johnny Bench, but I believe the production is similar at this point for a cheaper price. The Royals were in the market for a veteran catcher this winter and were linked to Pudge, and, Rod Barajas, and Jose Molina. Kendall is expected to be the starter and help guide their young pitching staff.
He’s a career .290 hitter with a .369 on-base percentage. The career numbers are great, but last season .241 with 2 homers and 43 RBI’s didn’t match the salary. The most alarming statistic is the 16 of 80 base stealers he caught for an unofficial 20 percent success rate. In 2008 he caught 43 percent of base-stealers. How much of that had to do with the Brewers pitchers is a topic for debate. Are his arm release times consistent with his career marks? I believe Kendall is still a serviceable catcher just not in an everyday capacity. There’s no valid reason a 35 year old catcher should catch a day game after a night game. I wouldn’t play him over 120 games to keep him fresh for the whole season. I’m surprised he found a 2 year deal as quickly as he did.
Tags: Brewers, Jason Kendall, Royals
