Royals Sign Jason Kendall To Two Year Contract; Seriously.

by Tommy Rancel on Dec 11, 2009 8:40 PM EST

At this point you have to just assume that the joke is on us. I keep thinking that one day after announcing a terrible move that Dayton Moore is going to move aside and Ashton Kutcher is gonna jump out and say "PUNK'D." Moore's latest prank was giving Jason Kendall a two-year deal that could pay him over $6 million dollars.

One day a GM Manifesto will be released with a list of some of Moore's more ridiculous moves and at the bottom it will read "Do not try this at home." I think he may actually be toying with the theory of fielding a replacement level team just to see if all our WAR estimates were right. For all the good that David DeJesus, Alberto Callaspo, Billy Butler, Joakim Soria and Zack Grienke bring, Moore tries to balance that with Kyle Farnsworth, Bruce Chen, Jamey Wright, Horacio Ramirez, Jose Guillen, Willie Bloomquist, Yuniesky Betancourt, and now Kendall.

Back in the day, you would've been hard pressed to find a more productive offensive catcher than Jason Kendall. In four of his first five seasons, Kendall posted wOBA's over .370. In 1998, his wOBA was .396 and, in just under half a season in 1999, he posted a Mauer-esque .420 wOBA. As recently as 2004, he posted above average offensive numbers, but has done little since. Since leaving the Steel City, he has posted the following wOBA's: .305, .321, .272, .293, .290. He has also failed to post a slugging percentage of over .342 over the same period. For his career, less than 2% of the flyballs he's hit have left the yard.

Being a savvy veteran and having a good reputation have magically earned him over 500 plate appearances in each of those seasons. His latest contract indicates that trend will continue. Moore keeps repeating that all these moves are part of "the Process." Either he just overheard Andrew Freidman use the phrase before, or Moore's process just flat out sucks. After this latest stroke of genius, I'm pretty sure it's the latter.

I often wonder, how is this the same man that re-signed Zack Grienke to a fantastic contract extension last season? I guess that serves as the ultimate example that even a broken clock get's it right twice a day. Actually, Royals fans just wish they had the broken clock instead.

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Now, this would be about the process:

I think he may actually be toying with the theory of fielding a replacement level team just to see if all our WAR estimates were right.

by Harry Pavlidis on Dec 11, 2009 11:27 PM EST reply actions

Has Moore outlined what his process is? Or is it just an excuse not to judge him on current results?

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by Sky Kalkman on Dec 12, 2009 8:46 AM EST reply actions

This is all that has been found out about "The Process" so far

Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.

by Jeff Zimmerman on Dec 12, 2009 9:00 AM EST up reply actions 4 recs

Awesome

And unfotunately, true.

by Brendan Scolari on Dec 14, 2009 1:47 AM EST up reply actions

you know

i was PISSED at the Reds for re-signing Ramon Hernandez. for a team with a tight budget, $3mil for an old catcher coming off knee surgery that Dusty Baker would start every day was just a bad idea. bad, bad idea.

i promise i will never question Walt Jocketty ever, ever, ever again.

"Everything you are doing is bad. I want you to know this."

by Charlie Scrabbles on Dec 12, 2009 10:21 AM EST reply actions

Dayton Moore has a brilliant long-term plan for the Royals.

It pains me to see you guys rag on him so much when he’s clearly got it together. He’s fortunate, unlike some GMs, to have ownership that is behind him and going to let him put things together for the big picture. That way, he can be more patient, instead of trying to win now, or even this next decade.

What he’s doing is exactly similar to what Tommy suggests: he’s testing baselines. We here theorize about replacement level and what it’s worth, and what below RL and average and such are in terms of contribution. We all know that actually testing theories in real life is better, though, and that’s what Dayton is doing. He’s going to fully test what replacement-level players contribute in a real setting, instead of in a calculator like geeks, then when he’s got his data, he’s going to use it to build a dynasty the likes we’ve never seen before.

It’s probably going to take him 15-20 years to have all the information he needs, but you should really stop being impatient like so many sports fans are these days and let him figure it out.

And That Happened: Sports with a Hint of Sarcasm

by philkid3 on Dec 13, 2009 6:29 PM EST reply actions

My dislike for GMDM is reaching George W Bush levels.

It’s not that I’ll stop rooting for the team, it’s just that I can’t expect anything to go right while he’s running the show. And I’ll be god-damned if we don’t see every mistake from miles away.

How can this be going so wrong? Uggggh!

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by Justin Bopp on Dec 14, 2009 1:10 AM EST reply actions