For those of you that are newer to this site, I'm proud to say that I drank the Beane-flavor Kool Aid.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again, the man knows how to cover for his mistakes. First, Kotsay for Hernandez and Terrence Long. Now, Kendall for Rhodes and Redman.
It's just wondrous to watch the man work. He should do children's parties. Watch him stuff Redman and Rhodes into a top hat and pull out Kendall. Beane the Magnificent.
I love this trade for Kendall, and I think Faust did an excellent job of dissecting it below (This is why I love the diary function on AN because the opportunity for the community to make such an argument is unprecendented in the sports blogging world).
Does this also give Beane additional trading chips to help the team out down the stretch in 2005? Chips named Baker, Brown, Suzuki and Powell? Every team wants a great young catcher and since our big club is set in that position for the next three seasons (barring trades), is it possible that Billy uses those youngsters as his "orange chips?"
You can use this thread for more discussion of Kendall's addition and what this means for the future of the Big Three as well as other tremors through the organization.
I'm going to go back to playing MVP Baseball 2004 on my XBox and drinking my Kool Aid. Oh, not that it means anything, but Kendall hit two home runs in his first two swings in his first two at-bats after I traded for him.
