Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:

zeroart wrote:i would probably take kendall over chavez at this point in time.

Really? Why?

i would much rather have a catcher that gets on base like kendall does than have a 20-30 homerun 3rd basemen. both are very good defensively though. although, chavez has more speed these days since kendall's ankle injury. fuck it, i'd rather have both of them.

zeroart wrote:btw, the white sox just traded for vasquez. hernandez, vizcaino and young.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:Kenny Williams, you have had a man crush on Javier Vasquez for many years now. You must be quite satisfied.

Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia, you might want to get in touch with your realtors.

yea, i agree with you here. javier's number might have been a little inflated last year playing half of his games in that launching pad, but it's not like the cell isn't a hitter friendly park either.

i'm wondering what garland's worth is these days to someone outside of chicago. he only has one year left on the contract, had a great year last year, but it's only one year of his mediocre career.

kenny must be in the tejada frenzy.

zeroart wrote:both of these players are worth every penny they get.

Chavez, yes. Great player by any measure.

Kendall, no. His defense is subpar. Last year's OBP of .345 is above league average, but not exceptional for a leadoff batter. He's fast, but there are many individual players that stole more bases last year than the whole of Oakland A's roster. The A's don't steal. He has no power. There's no indication that his numbers will improve considering his age and his position.

Kendall alone accounts for 20% of the team's payroll. That's loony.

zeroart wrote:anyone in the game would love to have kendall at the top of their lineup and anyone would love to have chavez in the middle of their lineup.

I am a fan of the Oakland Athletics. After a year of watching Jason Kendall, I would love to have Jason Kendall on another team.

If Jason Kendall has to be a member of the Oakland Athletics, I would love to have Jason Kendall bat 9th in the lineup.

Neither of these scenarios is likely to transpire.

vockins wrote:Kendall, no. His defense is subpar.

"Subpar" is being extremely charitable.

Jason Kendall's inability to throw out baserunners last year reached comic proportions. It got to the point where I felt sorry for this guy making $10 million dollars a year.

Signore Vockins, I wonder if Mark Kotsay is on the table for the Yankees now. I don't think the Yankees have any players the Athletics would trade for, with the possible exception of Robinson Cano.

vockins, kendall is not fast. he used to be fast.

kendall has had three just above average years in his 10 year career. the rest of his career he has been ridiculously good. he returns to form this year. angus, you will be very happy.

i think you also have to factor in what you are getting out of the catchers position. not many, if any active catchers, have a career OBP of .382

zeroart wrote:vockins, kendall is not fast. he used to be fast.

OK. I guess he sucks at leadoff even more than I am giving him credit for.

not many, if any active catchers, have a career OBP of .382

Kendall's OBP in Pittsburgh doesn't mean a thing to the A's. The guy is going to be 32 and he's played catcher his entire career. I see no reason why Kendall is going to come back. Every indication shows that the guy is on his way out.

If Kendall meets or exceeds an OBP of .382 next year, I'll buy you a steak.

(slowriot, I don't want to read one word from you. I attempt to settle the Mets bet three times. Coke bender Straw and Gooden stay with me now.)

zeroart wrote:i think you also have to factor in what you are getting out of the catchers position. not many, if any active catchers, have a career OBP of .382

Jason Kendall had an OBP of .345 last year, which represented a 50 point drop from 2003 and 2004. Jason Kendall will be 32 years old next season, an age at which ballplayers (and especially catchers) tend to decline.

But maybe being a 32 year old catcher isn’t that bad. Maybe Scott Boras has a binder to prove that.

I am sorry, Jason Kendall, but there were times last year where I was not convinced that you were even the best catcher on your own team. I am sorry to have thought this thing since you were very exciting and incredibly mind blowing this one time!

So, Jason Kendall, I hope that you prove me wrong. I hope that you have an OBP over .400 in 2006. I hope that you throw out more than .179 percent of base stealers in 2006.

And maybe you will hit a home run in 2006!

This would be very exciting!

Angus Jung wrote:Signore Vockins, I wonder if Mark Kotsay is on the table for the Yankees now. I don't think the Yankees have any players the Athletics would trade for, with the possible exception of Robinson Cano.

I hope Cano's not going anywhere. If he can learn to walk, which he seemed to be figuring out in late August and September, he'll be great.

Word on the street is that Kotsay stays at CF, Bradley plays RF and Payton plays LF. Or maybe Bradley plays LF and Payton plays RF. Who knows except beane.

I, personally, believe that Kotsay is not as good a trade as Jason Michaels of the Phils. He's the only guy I'd be excited about since Giles went to SD.

I think I wrote it before here somewhere, but I wouldn't be terribly disappointed with Bubba Crosby remaining in CF as a number nine hitter. His numbers when he started playing regularly were pretty good, and if he started figuring out how to walk, he'd be a fantastic leadoff hitter. I think the Yanks would be making a mistake not to give him a shot for two months if they don't get Michaels.

vockins wrote:Word on the street is that Kotsay stays at CF, Bradley plays RF and Payton plays LF. Or maybe Bradley plays LF and Payton plays RF. Who knows except beane.

Nick Swisher is also a starting outfielder. Under the Kotsay/Bradley/Payton scenario, Nick Swisher moves to first base.

The Athletics already have a first baseman in Dan Johnson. So Dan Johnson becomes the DH.

But the Athletics are supposed to be getting Frank Thomas to be the DH.

Either Beane is giving up on Frank Thomas, or one of these outfielders is getting traded, or some combination, or none of the above.

Yeah.