A's deal for Jason Kendall

Over the weekend, Oakland traded SP Mark Redman and reliever Arthur Rhodes for catcher Jason Kendall.

Interesting note about the money involved (from this article from the team's site)...

According to several reports, the A's will send Pittsburgh $1 million in each
of the next two seasons, and the Pirates will send Oakland $5 million in 2007,
when Kendall, who waived a no-trade clause to join the A's, is scheduled to make $13 million.

If those numbers are accurate, the A's essentially added $6.4 million in
payroll over the next two seasons -- Kendall's $21 million, minus the $16.4 owed Redman and Rhodes, plus the extra $2 million to Pittsburgh -- and will be on the hook for $8 million for Kendall in 2007.

It appears as though the Athletics did a good job making sure Kendall's contract wouldn't significantly increase their payroll. A $6.4 million net increase for 2005 and 2006 isn't much for two seasons, and Kendall should be well worth it.

You need but look at Kendall's numbers to see why the A's--and other teams--were interested in his services. Kendall's career .306/.387/.418 mark is a rarity among major league catchers, and he plays solid defense as well. He won't give the Athletics much power, but he'll draw plenty of walks and should fit perfectly into the #2 spot in the batting order. That gives Oakland a 1-2-3 that looks like this (2004 numbers in parentheses):

1) Mark Kotsay (.314/.370/.459)
2) Jason Kendall (.319/.399/.390)
3) Eric Chavez (.276/.397/.501)

Not bad, eh?