In case you missed it because you were paying attention to the biggest presidential election of our time, there was Howie Kendrick news yesterday. Ken Rosenthal dropped the blue bombshell the Dodgers were looking to move Kendrick, possibly to the Angels or Phillies.
According to Rosenthal’s sources, Kendrick has been grumbling about his diminished role with the Dodgers at the close of 2016. Kendrick was certainly versatile for the team this past season. He played first, second and third bases, and left field. Unfortunately, his production at the plate suffered, and his batting stats took a hit,. He finished with a .255 BA, 8 HRs, only 40 RBIs, and a .326 OBP in just under 150 games.
As new Dodgers’ spark plug Andrew Toles‘ star rose, Kendick found himself with less playing time. Adding to his personal frustrations, Kendrick only started three of the Dodgers’ eleven playoff games.
Howie Kendrick is unhappy with his status on the Dodgers, and Jon Heyman with Fanrag Sports is reporting Kendrick would rather be traded to a team where he can play every day. I agree with Howie. Trade the man.
Andrew Toles deserved more playing time over Kendrick in the outfield. I keep waking up in the middle of the night seeing Kendrick misplay an NLCS, Kris Bryant fly ball into an RBI double that started the Dodgers’ slide into a critical playoff loss against the Cubs. Toles is going to be the man to beat for left field in 2017, not Kendrick.
The Dodgers will probably keep Chase Utley for one more year, as they should, which means Kendrick won’t get to play every day at second base, his preferred position. He’s definitely not the guy to replace Adrian Gonzalez or Justin Turner at the corners either.
Kendrick can see the writing on the wall. He’s bound to be a $10 million, final contract year, utility player. He doesn’t want to be that for the Dodgers, and I don’t want him or his diminishing skills to be that for my team.
Ship him down the 5 freeway to Anaheim, or cross-country to the Phillies. Somewhere between those stops there’s got to be a utility player who can deliver less than 10 home runs and less than 50 RBIs for much less than $10 million.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
Follow Me:
Despite being injured to start the season, he had the 4th most AB’s on the team. If became apparent that the Dodgers thought little of his range at 2B so if they don’t view him as able to handle 2B next year at a competent level than deal him.
You keep waking up to what? Toles dropped the ball. And Kendrick can whine all he wants. Nobody else wanted him and the Dodgers overpaid him. He’s an ingrate, and he’s an ingrate that hit .190 in September/October. Piss up a rope Howie.
We can do better.
Badger, Game 1, first inning, Kendrick getting LF start over Toles. Kris Bryant double that Kendrick misplayed.
Oh. Forgot about that one. All I remember is Toles dropping a can of corn and guys running around the bases.
Badger
I wouldn’t call the ball that Toles dropped, a can of corn.
Toles tried to make a running catch, that was in between Joc and Toles.
And Toles lost his concentration on the ball, because he saw Joc out of the corner of his eye.
Yikes! It was a simple fly ball that a single A player will catch 99 out of 100 times. The kid try to do two things at once and didn’t do any of them!
It was an easy play MJ. He took his eyes off the ball and BLEW it. I could have caught that fly.
If he wants to go, let him go. I was surprised they resigned him anyway.
Again, WOW.
Howie wasn’t great in 2016, but he played very well in July and August after Kershaw got hurt – he was one of the guys who stepped up when the team needed him.
And after 10 years being a starting 2B in the majors being asked to play somewhere else was a comedown i’m sure.
i think the Dodgers can do better than Kendrick or Utley at 2B and have no problems if he is traded. The mediocre on the team at this point includes Ethier, Kendrick, Kazmir, McCarthy and many others and I have no problem if they are traded if it makes the team better.
I don’t see the point of being mad at a guy because he wants to be the starting 2B. That’s what got him to where he is in the first place.
Who’s mad? I just don’t think he’s in a very strong position to think he deserves to play every day. He’s not been good enough for that. I believe he was an unnecessary sign, and the numbers say he wasnt worth it. In over 1,000 plate appearances for the Dodgers he’s put up 1.6 WAR. His OPS+ this year was 90 and his dWAR numbers are awful. I don’t want him because he’s not very good. And he signed a lucrative 2 year deal with a team that platoons every day. He knew damn well what his role would be here.
Dodgerrick
When the front office went out of there way, to do Howie a favor, and sign him, when no other teams would, he was told he would have to accept just being a utility player.
He came to spring training out of shape, and Utley took advantage of that, and Utley just out played Howie, on both sides of the field.
I know Utley also fizzed a little toward the end of the season, but Utley brings much more to a line up, then Howie does.
Utley has more power, and is clutch, and he does so many different things, to help a team win.
Howie can pound sand up his ass. I hope they can get a trade done.
They will. It will just cost the organization some money, and as we’ve seen they have plenty of that.
Badger
I agree with everything you said.
Howie was already mad before the Dodgers signed him.
Because no teams were giving him any offers, probably partly because of the pick attached to him.
He came into spring training, out of shape, and got hurt twice in spring training.
He wasn’t able to play at the opening of the season.
And Roberts gave him to many at bats to help him to get hitting, and it took him a good two months, before he was hitting decently.
Chase I guess has and had more range then the younger Howie.
And Roberts went out of his way at times, to put Howie in the line up.
Roberts gave to many starts in left to Howie, instead of at second base, in the post season.
And Howie was a liability on defense, mostly with his arm, because he didn’t adjust and throw the ball like an outfielder.
And although he did get better on defense in left, he still was to much of a liability in left in the post season, especially with no real contribution on offense.
Good points MJ.
His splits say he started badly and ended the same way he started. He had a great July.
The guy that should want to be traded is Kiké.
Thanks Badger.
Howie also faded at the end of the season, last year, before getting hurt.
I do think he would hit consistently if he is getting consistent at bats, and playing everyday, to be fair.
But like you said, once Howie was signed, Kike was nothing more then a thought.
I don’t know if Kike didn’t hit well this season, because he missed a lot of spring training, because of his arm surgery in off season, or it was a combination of many things.
But the way they stuck Kike in the line up, in the post season, looked like pure desperation to me.
I am not convinced that there platoon line up, would perform better, then the almost everyday line up, that got most of the playing time.
It is ok now Scott, sorry for bugging you.
This thread may be coming to close so I’ll leave with this
http://static.images.publisher.attn.com/sites/default/files/dumbfuckistan.jpg
26th out of 40 in literacy. Once you consider that, it kind of explains things. Doesn’t excuse it, but it does offer an explanation.
Badger
Is that partly because of being not fluent in the English language, or knowing how to speak English at all.
I know some districts in LA county have those problems because of English being the second language, or some come to school, not knowing how to speak English at all.
I think the reality shows also were also a factor too.
Some young people worship quote celebs.
Well, if you put liberals in charge of the education system, what do you expect?
Libs teaching their alternative universe fantasy world stuff doesn’t serve the children well.
Get the unions out of education. Teach reading, writing and arithmetic. Leave the rubbers on the cucumbers and other “enlightened” B.S out of the schools and we could reverse this.
But then with everybody better educated, conservatives couldn’t get elected 😉
Bum
Good One!
I had decided not to comment on politics but this is a personal affront.
I graduated magna cum laude with a degree in history and have a law degree from a school accredited by the ABA, so I consider myself reasonably well educated. And I have been involved in politics in a rudimentary way since I was 10.
I am a conservative. Donald Trump is not. The fact that you would link education or lack of it to politics is absurd. I would consider luminaries such as William F Buckley Jr. well educated and intelligent.
I also observe that many or most of the more intelligent public conservatives did not come out for Trump. (Nor did I.)
The fact is that both Trump and Hillary Clinton are reprehensible human beings and neither should ever be president. The fact that they were the 2 individuals that the party nominating process left us with concerns me; however, this is not the only time that the country was left with no good choices for president and it won’t be the last.
Now – mind your manners.
So, you don’t think our elections really matter. Two candidates, no good choices, then why bother with the process?
Well, over 100,000,000 agreed with you. 55% turnout this year.
Hope you’re right. Most people I’ve talked with are very nervous about this. Who Trump is has been very clear. Who he will be as leader of the free world remains to be seen.
Graduating with honors is impressive. I know how much work goes into that. I did too. A law degree doesn’t impress me.
We should have an over/under on Trump’s first tweet.
Law school is significantly more difficult than undergraduate work – it is an order of magnitude different. Graduating with a BA with honors is nice – a law degree is much tougher to get. Law schools make it clear when you start that they are trying to flunk you out. The talent level in law school is significantly higher than undergrad and if you have met attorneys or law students, they are, as a group, way more competitive than most people so to survive law school is a feat.
The Bar passage rate in California is under 50%. I have been a licenced attorney in California for almost 33 years – passed 1st time.
Just sayin’.
Rick, if you are saying my comment was a personal affront to you then you missed the humor. I was merely responding to Box who was mocking liberal educators.
Heard any new lawyer jokes lately?
Here’s one of my favorite attorney jokes:
“A lawyer died and arrived at the pearly gates. To his dismay, there were thousands of people ahead of him in line to see St. Peter. But, to his surprise, St. Peter left his desk at the gate and came down the long line to where the lawyer was standing. St. Peter greeted him warmly. Then St. Peter and one of his assistants took the lawyer by the hands and guided him up to the front of the line into a comfortable chair by his desk.
The lawyer said, “I don’t mind all this attention, but what makes me so special?”
St. Peter replied, “Well, I’ve added up all the hours for which you billed your clients, and by my calculation you must be about 193 years old!””
And it’s that smug sense of intellectual vanity that Trump voters were reacting to. When Hollywood or the mainstream media or elitists living in their blue state enclaves persistently operate under this assumption that the rest of the country are ignorant, racist, misogynist, homophobic rubes, eventually they push back. When common folks just out there earning a living see privileged Ivy League college brats screaming at their professors over Halloween costumes and wring their hands over how to minimize “whiteness” or toxic masculinity, it makes common folks angry.
I didn’t support Trump. I didn’t vote for him. I’m actually relieved, though, that he won. It seems America pushed back against this regressive, politically correct ideology that just loves to bathe in its own righteousness. Some of the absolutely stupidest, most non sensical people you’ll ever encounter are some of the college graduates from these places. Some beliefs are so stupid only a left wing intellectual could utter them.
You’re probably right, actually. At least now, with the education, or rather indoctrination, that students receive at these left-wing seminaries and bubbles of politically correct group think formerly knows as universities.
Agreed, agreed, agreed. Pass laws requiring people to send their children to school until they complete high school. Revamp the school system, make schools private, not public. Give parents vouchers to send their children to school. No unions, no school districts, no social or sport activities, just 6 hours a day of real learning, sports and social activities after school. Schooling up until the tenth grade should be basic reading, writing, math, grammar, science, learning to do life requirements like cooking, cleaning, home repairs, paper work (income tax etc.). Eleventh and twelfth grades concentrate on pre college training for those interested and qualified, others learn practical things, shop, agriculture, home making, auto repair, construction, any job that doesn’t require college degree. Crazy, idea, forget it…..
Abortion rates and unplanned pregnancies are down because of science-based prevention programming. And sales of cucumbers are down too.
Bum
I thought what you said was obvious.
He is owed 15 million over the next 3 years, he should be pretty easy to move and 2 teams are already interested. Kazmir on the other hand is a different ball of wax. They will have to eat some of his salary, but he makes sense as a back of the rotation guy maybe in the AL.
Michael
That sucks that we might have to ate some of the money, to get Kazmir traded.
We already have so much money, invested in players, that are no longer on the team.
I guess they call that dead money.
It is the way they do business now. The only way that guy is gone is if the FO eats part of that contract. He might be attractive at 10 million a year to somebody….
Michael, the injuries to the SP’s are clearly on the Fo’s shoulders for signing KNOWN injury riddled pitchers since before the 2015 Season. Ballet Bret Anderson, as we like to call him, McCarthy, and last but not least Kazmir. I knew what those end results would be. Bottom line for this FO, is to stop putting ‘band aids on broken legs’! My feelings are if Howie is aor was unhappy with his role, so be it, but it certainly cost him his offense at the dish. and don’t get me started with Kike…He needs to go and should NEVER have been put on NLCS roster.
Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I have never been a Trump fan. I did not want him to be the Presidential candidate for the Republican party. I still am not a fan, but right about now, I think many people have their own self-imagined fears to combat more than real fears. For example, the media has portrayed Trump as a bombastic, rapist, racist bully.
Of course, this is the SAME media who predicted he would not be nominated, predicted he would not win the Presidency and predicted that the Stock Market would crash if he was elected. IT TURNS OUT ALL OF THAT WAS FALSE. Many Republicans were convinced Obama was going to take their guns. Not only did he not take their guns, but he didn’t even try. There was so much rumor and innuendo about him (not born in US, he’s Muslim, going to take our guns, he’s a socialist), but it turns out that was all hogwash!
While I did not agree with some of the things he did, he certainly wasn’t the disaster many on the right believed (except for Obamacare). I am tired of the race card being played on everything when someone doesn’t like another’s politics. Yes, there are racists… in every race. Never lose sight of that fact!
So, while I think Trump has a big mouth and sometimes should just shut up, I am willing to give him a chance. So much of what the media reported was BS – I am willing to wait and see what really happens.. not what someones irrational fears project. I don’t think a wall is going to be easy to build… maybe impossible. But “wall” can be metaphorical. My wife is an immigrant – American is a country of immigrants. My family tree is full of immigrants. I just believe that you need to come into the country the right way and that you should have proper ID to vote, just like you need that to drive or get food stamps.
We welcome immigrants with open arms, but we also can’t be blind to the fact that some people want to immigrate here to do us harm. Balancing that is very difficult. It’s not a job I would want. Is Trump the answer? I have no clue… I don’t even know what the question is… BTW, Trump is actually a former Democrat. If you study his actual values he has far more in common with traditional moderate or liberal values than he does a traditional conservative. In fact, Trump may even be more liberal than Hillary Clinton on several issues. Hummmm…
Mark
The fact still is that he isn’t prepared for the job
Hopefully, he will hire good people to work for him, and he will actually listen to them.
The main people he has had at his side, like the former speaker of the house, and New Yorks former Mayor, are not outsiders from the government.
Hopefully Trump won’t have these two guys as his close advisers.
But Mark your are right he is more liberal then some think, but he needs to listen more, then he actually does, because not one person knows everything.
And about the wall, he has no idea what is going on in the West, with the states that border Mexico.
And I did see that the klan is having a celebration in Trumps honor.
Mark
And if you were in a country like Mexico, that has no middle class, just the rich and poor, you would probably do the same thing as these people do.
Most of the republicans that use them as scape goats, are the ones hiring these same people.
But I agree we must be careful, with these borders because of terrorists.
You said that Obama went up to bat for Hillary more then any other sitting president, but that may have worked against her, considering how some people feel about Obama.
Also Trump was one of the loudest people constantly questioning Obama’s birth place.
But I do appreciate your honesty.
Enjoy Tampa Howie!
I think Ian Kinsler would be a great up grade at second.
He hit just below 290, and hit 28 HRs, and had over 80 RBIs.
He hit 309 against lefties, but only hit 7 HRs, against lefties, but he had a slugging percentage over 5, and his OPS, was in the high 800s against lefties.
I had no idea that he had this kind of power, combined with a good batting average.
My only reservations would be that it might take him time to hit against National League pitchers, and would he still be offensively productive in our line up, because the Tigers have a very good offensive line up.
I believe this coming year, is his free agent year, so we would only have him for that one year, and then we wouldn’t have to worry about his age.
And the Tigers are trying to bring down the price of there payroll, so they are listening to teams.
Some body in Detroit thinks a trade is brewing between the Dodgers and Tigers for Justin Verlander…..say it ain’t so!
damn, I love that shirt