Is it "game over" for Jason Kendall?

i'd send melhuse back down and split the starting C job 50/50 between suzuki and kendall initially, and then base playing time on how they both perform.  
that way suzuki is eased into the job and kendall still has one last chance to show that he's not done.  it could be just the motivation kendall needs to get his act together.

Are we talking short term or long term here?

Here's how bad the A's offense is right now. They've scored 111 runs in 29 games. That's 10 runs fewer than the Mariners have scored and Seattle has played 4 fewer games! The A's have scored exactly 1/3 of their total runs (37) in 3 games. That means in the other 26 games the a's have managed 74 runs scored. That's 2.85 runs per game. Yes, Kendall sucks but he is not single handedly responsible for the travesty that is the Oakland A's offense.

Which is why I ask if we're focusing on long term or short term goals.

Short term, replacing Kendall with even a league average offensive player will improve the line-up. However, the change wouldn't make that great of a difference because the offense is so inept. Maybe a new Catcher would boost the output to a full 3 runs a game... which still sucks! The A's need to see improvement from several players before we can expect to see a better offense.

I'm not a Jason Kendall fan!

But if you take a long term approach it becomes clear that Kendall does not have much of an influence on the overall offensive production. Benching him or platooning him effectively cripples one of his most endearing qualities: what he'll be worth after his Athletics career is over. If Kendall can get his bat going (and lets be honest, it can only get better from here on out) he could be worth something at the trade deadline. And if he approach his 2005 level he'll (likely) maintain his Type A FA status, meaning he could be worth up to 2 1st round draft picks. That's definetly worth considering.

I think Kendall should rest more, give Melhuse some more AB. I also don't think Suzuki is ready just yet for the Show. I think he still has room to improve in AAA, lets not rush him. Maybe in a couple months it will be time to call up Suzuki and let him replace Melhuse. But not now.

Yes. Kendall's finished.

Is Suzuki ready to step in? I think so, if by step in, you mean hit .250/.330/.320.

Which, at this point, I'd probably gladly take.

Hit into a PLETHURA of inning ending double plays last night, only to finally come through with a clutch base hit late in the game.

Bat for bat, they are equally unimpressive.

No one calls a game as well as Kendall.

Don't worry, he is gone in free agency after this year. Look elsewhere for output this season

LET'S GIVE KENDALL A DAY OFF EVERY NOW AND THEN. Obviously, there is absolutely no reason to be starting him every day, if he's gonna hit like this. Melhuse ain't that great a hitter either, but Melhuse will not have a problem bettering him at the plate. Hell, I have grandparents that can hit better than Kendall. So why don't they split 50/50? I know Kendall has a huge ego, apparantly, forcing him to play every day, and I know he's the highest paid player on the A's, but come on, NO catcher plays behind the plate this much. The other high-paid catchers don't play as often as Kendall, and they can actually hit. So I think it would be best to give him more time off.

and have a catching/DH duo of Salty and Suzu, the one not catching getting the DH spot.

is to give Melhuse more starts. Nothing too drastic for Kendall, just something like 1 day off every week or so. Suzuki's not ready yet and Kendall, in addition to making a lot of money, is still a major fixture for the pitching staff. He's already made 27 starts this year, probably 4-5 too many. Mixing in Melhuse will give us an offensive plus occasionally and keep Kendall as physically capable as possible over the duration of the season. No way should he be catching over 130 games a season.

Kendall, Melhuse, and Closser get the playing time this year than Suzuki.

None of them are going to hit much, with Kendall being the worst but not really by that much, and he is the best in there defensively. Suzuki is not going to solve any problems as far as this year is concerned.

Gritty.

I never paid attention to kendall when he was on Pitt. Was he jacked back then or what? I mean, how does someone lose that much power?

Someone needs to tell Kendall to stop trying to just make contact. He should take some lessons from Crosby! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!

That of all people, it's those of this site, that don't want to rush Kurt Suzuki.

These are the same people that have repeatedly called for Daric Barton's promotion every time he has a slight hot streak, right?

I mean, Suzuki isn't particularly ready, no, but I'd be shocked if he came up and couldn't OBP at around .320, which would be an infinitely better option than continuing to count on anything from Kendall. He is NOT guaranteed to get better at all. What we have happening in front of our eyes is a catcher who has played for a long time, has completely lost his power, and is now completely losing his ability to hit for contact. This happens to catchers, they break down.

Suzuki could come up, hit .250/.320/.320, and give us at least some semblance of offensive adequacy out of the catcher position.

He's not the type of prospect you really worry about rushing. He's been consistent at every level, came from college (so he's older, and he has that experience), doesn't have the kind of upside you worry about squandering (like, with, say, Barton), and possesses a skill set that translates relatively quickly to the majors. (Average/Walks/No Power)

Maybe he's not the best option, but until Beane goes out there and grabs somebody else, which, of course, is quite possible, I'd argue Suzuki is the best of in house options.

Is this a prelude to Suzuki's promotion?

If Kendall weren't making as much money as he does, he would have been a backup/AAA catcher two years ago.  It's a shame really, since the cost is sunk, that players get to continue to hurt their teams into the future by actually PLAYING through bad contracts, much less hampering their teams financially.

this is an excellent diary, jeepers.

What has become of this guy, I'm always the first guy to come to his defense mainly because he has durability, adequate defensive skills, and a want to go out onto the field. But now he's become a 'rally killer' if you want to call him that, an easy catcher to steal on, and below average hitting at the major leaque level and if someone doesn't give him some sort of pep talk on how to hit then we'll be seeing some platooning at the catcher position.

I'd like to see a trial run of parking Kendall on the bench 2-3 days a week and giving Melhuse more starts.  I don't care how much Jason's getting paid or how much he's going to growl & spit about it, he truly sucks right now.

I think that Kotsay and Kendall were acquired with
Beane's knowledge of the fact that the rest of the team was going to be very young for a while.

You can't have a team of all 22-24 year olds. Any of you who live in Walnut Creek and have ever seen Harden/Crosby/etc. out on the town know what I'm talking about.

A team that is ENTIRELY filled with good-looking, wealthy, 22-24 year-olds will do what other young men that age do when they have the opportunity - they'll go out to much, they'll occasionally come to games hung over, their work ethic will suffer, and they won't have good influences around them. Worse yet, they'll have no older player influence to keep that behavior in check. (And the manager and GM alone can't stop that stuff).

I'm not saying these young guys needed parents. But Beane knew how young this team would be. And he knew that a VERY good influence on them would be two guys who, by all accounts, have excellent work ethic, good character, and could provide a veteran role model.

Whether you want to believe it or not, Swisher/Harden/Crosby/Blanton/etc. probably needed that. And certainly, Kendall and Kotsay have provided it.

It's unfortunate that they've underperformed their contracts. But perhaps they've had some value even beyond their stats, or in Kendall's case, his defense.

You have to figure that Beane, as a former player who knew the life that a 22 year old has in MLB, at least considered those variables.