The Grinch that stole Kendall’s Christmas
As the New Year approaches, hopefully all of you out there are enjoying what Santa gave you for Christmas. If you were good instead of bad, and you didn’t cry or pout that much during the year, then your holiday wishes probably did come true for the most part.
But then there’s poor Jason Kendall.
As far as his baseball wish list went, all he saw under his Christmas tree was a lump of coal.
No new significant dealings by his new team, the Oakland Athletics, to bring in a Carlos Beltran or a Randy Johnson or anyone of that nature.
No dramatic wake-up from the nightmare the A’s recently created for him with their most recent trades.
Kendall must have felt like leaving the “baseball hell” of Pittsburgh – as he once described it to a new teammate – via a trade to Oakland in the offseason was like an early Christmas present.
Visions of actually participating in the Major League Baseball postseason, and possibly even the World Series, had to have danced in his head.
Then, suddenly, the “A” on the Athletics’ caps morphed into a “G” – as in “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.”
A few verses of the Athletics’ version of that holiday classic may have gone something like this:
“We’ll soon lose Tim Hudson to free agency any way, so let’s send him to Atlanta for some youngsters who’ll play for little pay” …
And then, “Since the ‘Big Three’ is no more, why not take it a step further, and trade our ace lefty, the hurler called Mark Mulder.” …
And finally, “Yes, with two little flicks of their front office wheel-and-deal wand, the A’s playoff hopes, as well as Jason Kendall’s new ‘baseball heaven,’ were, sadly, all gone.”
Oh, a few lines from the original are probably stuck in Kendall’s mind when he thinks of his baseball luck, such as “stink … stank … stunk” as well as “You’re a mean one” Mr. Billy Beane, in reference to the Oakland GM who brought Kendall over to a contender only to quickly dissolve it into the “Pirates West.”
Kendall was quoted in one story after his trade as saying, “Obviously that’s all you hear: Big Three, Big Three, Big Three,” in reference to talented starting pitchers Mulder, Hudson and Barry Zito. “I’m excited, and it’s going to be neat to work with guys of that caliber.”
Well, at least one of them anyway.
Kendall also said, “I want to be the team that goes out and beats the Yankees, that goes out and beats the Red Sox. The guys that we have here have the ability and the chemistry to go do that.”
Oops. Not any more.
Without Hudson and Mulder, the A’s are no match for the Angels in their own division and with the Yankees and Red Sox around, they have little chance of winning the wild card. Oakland’s 2005 season is pretty much “Let’s get ’em maybe in 2006.”
This isn’t what Kendall had in mind when he was traded from the perennial losers known as the Pirates. Then again, when you note some of what’s been said and written about the Kendall deal, you wonder if the A’s media knew exactly what they were getting.
One article said Kendall was “someone who will bring a blaze into one of the coolest clubhouses in the big leagues.”
Obviously someone was never in a Pirates clubhouse while Kendall was present.
For those who have had that experience, “blaze” isn’t quite the word they would choose. Some accurate adjectives would be “dour,” “sarcastic,” “annoyed” and, basically, “unpleasant.”
Kendall has great qualities as a ballplayer. The 30-year-old Californian has a .306 career batting average, is one of the best catchers in baseball, plays the game hard, is a great competitor and hates to lose.
Once he steps outside the white lines, though, Jason is about as effervescent as a glass of mud, and has little positive influence on his teammates.
Kendall was quoted as saying after his trade to Oakland, “I’ve taken on guys, one on one, if something needs to be discussed.”
In reality, if Kendall was annoyed at a teammate, he was much more likely to hand pick a writer and spew out his complaint for print in the newspaper rather than walk across the clubhouse and confront the player.
At his locker after a game, his favorite saying was, “This one’s over. We’ve got another game tomorrow.”
Even a nearby teammate once rolled his eyes when Kendall gave that familiar line for seemingly the 9,000th time.
A smile was something almost never seen from the guy who admittedly loves Jim Rome, but even “Romy” as Kendall often called him, has to be more pleasant off camera than he is on his scowling show.
Kendall also is one of those people who is convinced he can even do your job better than you.
Once on a road trip when a bus driver got lost on the way from the airport to the hotel, Kendall berated the man constantly.
You’ve probably been in that exasperating situation before. Now imagine it with Kendall in the backseat jabbing at you over and over with “I can’t believe you’re lost dude … What kind of driver are you? … That’s terrible man.”
Then there was the time in Bradenton during spring training when yours truly asked former Blue Jays third baseman Ed Sprague what it felt like to win the World Series.
As Sprague opened his mouth, Kendall, sitting nearby sarcastically yelled, “Yippee, woo-woo, we won, yay, yay, yay … What kind of question is that?”
Even Sprague, who gladly talked about his Fall Classic experiences afterwards, seemed annoyed by Kendall’s interruption, but this reporter quickly recovered, looked down at Kendall and said, “Hey, you’re sitting there wishing that someday you’ll get asked that same question.”
Kendall just put his head down and muttered, “Yeah … maybe … we’ll see.”
His dream almost came true. Kendall even was quoted after being traded as saying, “I know that I’ll be in a pennant race in September. That’s a Christmas present in itself.”
Sorry Jason. Bah, humbug.
Hope you’re enjoying your coal.
Assistant Sports Editor Rob Burchianti can be reached at rvburchianti@hotmail.com