Kendall's contract

Sam Ross Jr. has the latest on the attempts to trade Kendall.

Buy low, sell high I say. Kendall is overpaid by the standards of the current market, and will continue to be overpaid if the market stays the same through 2007. But he's still a star player. He's not the superstar that his contract suggests, but he's well above average, especially for a catcher. Overpaying Kendall is a far different matter than overpaying, say, Derek Bell. In the first case, you're buying a used BMW with a dent for $40,000. In the second case, you're buying a Geo on cinder blocks for $25,000. Would you rather pay $8M for a year of Jason Kendall or $5M for a year of Operation Shutdown? The Kendall contract is not an efficient way to make the team better, but it's also not hurting the team the way the Bell contract hurt the team.

At some point, you have to give up on trading a player. If all the world knows you want to dump him, everyone will low-ball you. Ross Jr. quotes this as the current CW on Kendall:

The paper also quotes an anonymous Seattle scout thusly on Kendall: "He's a singles hitter with an average arm. He's a very good singles hitter, but for what he does and what he's going to make, that's a bad contract."

Kendall's power took a hit with that traumatic ankle injury. This spring, however, he's been knocking the ball around with more power than he's shown in a few years. The Pirates have many players signed to bargain contracts; even with Kendall's contract there's no way ownership can be unhappy about the overall value Littlefield is getting for all their payroll dollars. We're basically married to Jason Kendall at this point. Since he is showing signs of new-found power, why not talk about keeping him all year and see if he doesn't perform at a higher level?

If Littlefield puts down the phone, I think it will ring again. Kendall could really help a team at a trade deadline, for example, and his contract is not the worst in baseball. And we may have more luck getting a fair deal for Kendall if we wait on this power improvement and see if it doesn't raise Kendall's value. After all, you don't win games by having the lowest salary, and you can't expect to grow revenues if you aren't winning games. Let's win some games with Kendall and stop trying to trade him while he's undervalued on the trade market.

P.S. I could make the same argument for Kris Benson. Littlefield did well in the Giles trade. With patience, he can do just as well with Benson and Kendall. And while we are waiting, Benson and Kendall will be a part of the more winning that is the only thing that will sell out the home games at PNC Park.