It's looking like Jason Kendall is very close to becoming an Oakland Athletic, at least according to Ken Rosenthal.
Kendall would be a tremendous pickup for the A's, but better than that, the A's would be dumping Arthur Rhodes overinflated contract and opening up a space for Joe Blanton in the rotation.
According to Rosenthal:
Kendall, 30, is guaranteed $10 million, $11 million and $13 million over the next three seasons. His addition would increase the possibility that the club will trade one of its Big Three starting pitchers -- Tim Hudson, Barry Zito or Mark Mulder.
Rosenthal is probably right that the next logical step would have to be to move one of the Big Three because of Kendall's bloated contract. That's only if they hang onto Kendall.
But suddenly the A's top of the order looks much better. Kendall, Kotsay and Chavez leading off. If Billy can turn around and grab another bat to hit fourth (Austin Kearns is my preference) and resign Durazo, our offense suddenly looks very potent.
Remember, it's still speculation at this point. I'm not sure that Steve Schott would jump at the chance to make that kind of financial commitment either.
