Kendall to rest more often this season

[Ennder]

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/brewers.html

 

Macha said he could get Rivera more action and Kendall more rest by pairing the backup catcher with one particular pitcher in the starting rotation throughout the season.

"That would keep Jason fresh so that when we get to crunch time, he's got some gas left," said Macha. "I could see him getting at least one day off a week. He's not going to be happy about it. That's just too bad."

 

I do not miss Yost one bit~.

[yount19.u]

If Macha does decide to match Rivera up with a pitcher, Parra is the logical choice given the nice little history the two have together.

[Mr QL]

Good to hear. I love Kendall and all but Rivera raked to well to be buried on the bench like he was last season. Hopefully Macha won't be afraid to PH Rivera sometimes too.

[BrewCrewForever]

"He's not going to be happy about it. That's just too bad."

 

That quote is a breath of fresh air. Nice to hear a Manager actually have some grapefruits and not be afraid to make right decisions even if the player is not the happiest about it.

 

But yeah overall this is great to give Kendall more rest and get Rivera's decent stick more AB's. I too would be up for Parra being the one to work with Mike since they do have somewhat of a past.

[T B0NE 10]

Good news.....

 

Kendall played great at the beggining of the season, when we'd assume he was fresh

 

And what else did Rivera have to do to get more playing time

[logan82]

As long as he doesn't pair up Rivera with the 5th starter and skip his starts whenever he can this should be an improvement. I would prefer to see Kendall rested even more, say every day after night game or twice a week. It's a start.

[bobskube]

It is nice to see Macha assert himself. I totally agree. Kendall should not start more than 125 games. You could see him tire a bit down the stretch and he is getting no younger.

[RightFieldCoder]

Didn't Macha and Kendall not get along so well the last time they were together? As much as I agree with Kendall getting some rest, an alarm went off in my head when I read that quote.

[OOOverbay]

I love that quote. A big smile came over my face when I read it. As long as Rivera keeps the bat going this year Kendall will have nothing to complain about.

[pitchleague]

I thought the exact same thing, robin. However, no matter what Kendall might think, he really needs a day off every now and then. At his age, he's getting to the point where he is going to start breaking down. Sure, he had his (arguably) best season defensively in his career last year but it all the work really seemed to affect his offensive prowess as the innings kneeling behind the plate piled up.

 

Good for Macha making a stand on this. Wonder if this is a one-time thing or going to happen a lot. Hope the players understand and can accept it.

[T B0NE 10]

Also I hope whenever Rivera plays....Macha doesn't throw out the entire "B" team lineup like Nedly did too many times last year.

[JohnBriggs12]

That quote is a breath of fresh air. Nice to hear a Manager actually have some grapefruits and not be afraid to make right decisions even if the player is not the happiest about it.

I love both the quote and the tone it sets. I've taken a wait and see approach to Macha but he sure passed the test on this one. No way is Kendall a guy who should start 150 games.

[JoeHova]

It's a sad commentary on Ned's reign of terror when we all get so excited by a manager saying he won't start a 35 year old catcher every day. Great move, obviously, but why did it take two managerial changes for it to happen?

[JohnBriggs12]

Great point Joe. I wondered all last year when Yost's job description was modified to include keeping Jason Kendall happy.

[Fatter than Joey]

I wondered all last year when Yost's job description was modified to include keeping Jason Kendall happy.

 

C'mon JB12 -- you know Kendall was a gamer and a fighter, and you just don't take gamers out of the lineup....

 

Yost was a bad manager.

[joepepsi]

In this day and age any manager should be fired immediately when he uses the same catcher in both games of a doubleheader. If no other reason Yost should have been fired for letting Rivera rot on the bench, spending the entire year on the 25 man roster yet only get 69 plate appearances. It may be the single dumbest move by any manager, ever.

 

It also shows how Yost let him players run the team. I like a manager who uses his entire roster. Macha alone could mean 5 more wins.

[davego]

I'm hoping I can construct a similar plan. Now that I am over 40, I need one day off a week from fandemonium, so I'm trying to sign a back-up to take my place here and there. I need more in the tank come September.

[giffted1]

Kendall played great at the beggining of the season, when we'd assume he was fresh

Kendall's good start was more luck than being fresh. A well rested Kendall with Macha as manager isn't going to bat .300 this year.

[TooLiveBrew]

It may be the single dumbest move by any manager, ever.

 

http://razzball.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dusty.jpg

 

Patterson! Get out there -- you're (still) leading off!

[rluzinski]

I'm glad to see this but I think some people are going to be disappointed with Rivera's stick. He should have decent power but may struggle to have even a .300 OBP. Of course, the offensive bar for a backup catcher isn't set very high.

[logan82]

giffted1 wrote:

Kendall's good start was more luck than being fresh. A well rested Kendall with Macha as manager isn't going to bat .300 this year.

Other than his hot start the first 2 weeks of the season, Kendall was pretty much the same pre and post All-Star break. I still see no evidence that Kendall was any more tired at the end of the season than any other player. I think that he played to many games. I don't think that getting him more rest is going to allow us to get much more production out of him. Kendall is a weak hitter and blaming his playing time for his poor hitting is ignoring that fact.

[JoeHova]

Mike Rivera said:

---

I'm hoping to make it to 100 this year?.?.?. at-bats, not games.

 

Nice. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Good to see Mike not having a negative attitude about Kendall's somewhat inexplicable ironman status. I assume he was happy to finally spend a whole season in the majors, even though he barely got to play. I realize Rivera isn't perfect, but I like him and I hope he does well with his (allegedly/hopefully) increased playing time.

[Weirdos19]

Doesn't it seem ironic that Ned didn't like playing the backup catcher when he was a backup catcher his whole career???

 

I love the idea that Macha is puting his foot down. Come in and take control of this young team.

 

Although, I still kinda wish they would offer Pudge a one year deal. He'd jump at a contender offering a deal.

[Tbadder]

First, like everyone else this is great news. Macha is already asserting himself rather than letting the inmates run the asylum. I also love how he rejected Gallardo as his number 1 pitcher. Agree or disagree it's his decision and he's got an intelligent reason.

 

 

I believe that Russ will be right, and that Rivera will not hold his offensive value as his at bats increase. But what if, slim as it might be, Rivera is a late bloomer and has turned himself into an above average hitting catcher. Then Kendall playing too much is effectively limiting Rivera's value, maybe by a lot (though again I admit this probably isn't the case). Given that Kendall is at the end of his career and Rivera is in the late middle part of his career, Jason could be hurting the Brewers by limiting Rivera's trade value.

 

 

Lets pretend that Mike had 220 ABs last year and he hit .279 with 9 homers, and further lets pretend that this season Rivera hits .286 with 4 homers by the All-Star break. Now Posada goes down and the Yankees are in first place (I know, it ain't gonna happen, but lets pretend). Now Rivera may have established himels as a top flight back up, maybe even someone who could hold down a position for two months and not kill your chances in a pennant/wildcard race. We package Cameron with Rivera and in return we pry loose someone like Hughes because the Yanks are a little desparate.

 

 

Now of course this isn't gonna happen, but my very small point is, is that if people are producing (like Rivera did last year) you must allow them to follow through because they could establish themselves as a valuable commidity. This is particularly important for small market teams because it gives them more flexibilty financially and talent wise. And again, you can't let some stubborn veteran have his way when it's deterimental to the organization's greater whole.

[Thurston Fluff]

I don't get why Yost using Kendall for 151 games is so much worse than Macha using him for 150 in 05. That extra game must have really wore him down. He has caught no less than 143 games since 2000 except for the season he was traded after being benched for poor play. Even then it was in the upper 130's range. At age 34 he wasn't so ancient that he was bound to break down after a few more games than he had caught his entire career. Go ahead and bash Ned but when Rivera stinks like so many other backup catchers who can't even break into the bigs until he's in his 30's and his battery mate starts to gripe because he always gets stuck with the poorer of the two game callers you may wish Macha was more willing to let his best players play the most.

That said I don't mind if they do reduce Kendall's games but to think it is going to somehow make the team all that much better is wishful thinking. I do not like them paring him with one pitcher though. I would much rather they give him day games after night ones or a certain day of the week so every one gets a fair chance to have the top game caller on the team.

As far as Mach's comments I don't see any real benefit to saying I don't care what Kendall thinks. Especially if they already had a rocky relationship in Oakland. There is a way of conveying the same message without being confrontational. That is a lesson I hoped he would have learned form his past experience as manager.

I will wait and see with Macha and hope he is the right guy for the job but those comments do not make me feel nearly as confident in him as it seemingly does many others here.