Cubs acquire Kendall; Bowen relegated to historical footnote
Rob Bowen will now forever be known as the guy the Cubs used to acquire catcher Jason Kendall in the season they won the World Series.
Was that going too far? No? Good.
Anyway, Bowen goes to the A's and Jason Kendall, good as recently as last year, becomes the Cubs' new starting catcher. He's struggled this season, yes, but even at .226 with no power and few walks he looks like Babe freakin' Ruth compared to the stiffs the Cubs were sending out there. And on the plus side, he's been hitting .297 in his last 25 games.
If he can regain his ability of the last couple season - no power, plenty of discipline - he can be great for the Cubs.
At the very least he's never been punched by any pitcher. Well, that I know of anyway.
Oh, and the Cubs won today on another dramatic hit by Ramirez. In related new, I peed my pants.
Couldn't we have...
....just thrown in JJ for kicks? OK OK - they didn't want him either.
And in one swift move...
...the Cubs have shown that they can take on salary and are able to improve the team through trades. Anybody who thought that the assets were frozen and Hendry was in a lurch are now shown to be mistaken.
Now, who's he going to get to play CF?
I thought so too
but it sounds like very little money is coming our way (Pirates are playing most of 2007 salary, A's playing the rest)
I'll take it
Sure, I was, um, "jonesing" for JJ to be outward bound, but we got a great deal.
We traded a .267 career hitting catcher for a .209 career hitting catcher for a .298 career hitting catcher.
Since Barrett came into the bigs (1999 -- he only played 8 games in 98), he and Kendall have almost the exact same number of K's. But, Kendall has 434 walks since then. Barrett? 264.
Give me another patient and experienced hitter at the plate over what we've been used to any day. I hope that Sweet Lou continues to put the catcher in the 8 spot. Sure, lately he's HAD to do it, but now he can do it and actually count on having people on base for Soriano to bring in when the top comes back around.
dont...
Please don't ever compare Jason Kendall to Babe "Freakin" Ruth again. Thanks...Go Cubs