Posted by:
gwoelfel on
September 2, 2008 at
4:55PM CST
BY GERY WOELFEL
When Jason Kendall signed with the Milwaukee Brewers over the winter as a free agent, there was hardly a buzz.
After all, Kendall was perceived as a player who was on the downside of his career. Some baseball observers contended he was flat-out washed up.
Based on the feeble numbers he posted last season with the Cubs and Athletics -- He batted a paltry .242 and, worse, threw out only 10.5 percent of runners -- it was understandable why people felt that way.
The handful of teams that courted Kendall during free agency envisioned him as a part-time starter, or perhaps a mentor to one of their young catchers.
The Brewers, of course, ended up signing him and, to say the least, he's been a godsend for them.
Entering Tuesday night's game, the 34-year-old Kendall was batting a solid .255 and throwing out runners like he was the second coming of Johnny Bench. Kendall had gunned down 30 of 76 runners, an impressive .395
That, by itself, has made Kendall a valuable addition to the Brewers. But he's also provided the Brewers something else, something they haven't had in eons: a reliable, every day catcher who knows how to handle pitchers.
Tuesday night was Kendall's 124th start behind the plate. He earlier broke the Brewers' record for starts by a catcher, which was 121 by Darrell Porter. Porter had held that record since 1975 -- or for the last 33 years.
While Kendall's achievement may be impressive to a lot of people around here, it's probably not a big deal to Kendall.
He has started at least 130 games the last six seasons. He once started 157 games for the Pirates in 2001.
There are several reasons why the Brewers are knocking on the playoff door -- and Kendall is undoubtedly one of the biggest.
Posted by: brewpackman on September 2, 2008 5:17PM CST
Welcome back Gery, hope you are feeling better, now on to the task at hand...........Maybe I am just nitpicking here, but, I find it to be kind of odd that whenever you seem to have a problem with a personnel decision such as you have had in the past with the Brewers signing Eric Gagne or too many TT moves to count, you seem to single out the GM in question, but when you are praising a move you seem to say things like "the brewers" or "the packer organization".........as though you have too much pride to praise the individuals you so thoroughly love to lambaste.....excluding Bucks execs obviously. There is nothing wrong with being wrong, except when you are too pigheaded to admit it.
Posted by: Brett Favre on September 3, 2008 9:49AM CST
Kind of changed your tune here haven't you? You use to say the Brewers were screwing over Vinnie by not giving him a shot, and now you are praising Kendall. What is it?
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