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Say hello to our new catcher, Jason Kendall.  Kendall has been an offensive force (well maybe not this year) batting .298 during his career.  The Cubs are hoping that Kendall can come around from his season long slump, in which he has been batting .226.  Rob Bowen was sent out to Oakland along with a minor league pitcher in order to acquire Kendall.  Bowen was having a horrible time batting for the Cubs.  His defense behind the plate was excellent, very comparable to that of Kendall’s.  This trade should give the Cubs more pop from their catcher position while bringing in the veteran catcher to work with some of the young pitchers.  I hope we can see the Kendall who many pitchers feared just last year, any catcher would be better at the plate then Bowen or K. Hill.  Welcome to Chicago Kendall!

I couldn’t believe the news I heard when I woke up yesterday.  Our catcher, Michael Barrett, who has been in the middle of all the drama this season, was traded on Wednesday.  Barrett was having a horrible year behind the plate, I think he had 9 or 10 passed balls already this year.  If you watched Barrett this year you could notice he didn’t seem to block as many pitches thrown in the dirt. It just didn’t seem he could move around as good as he used to behind the plate.  Offensively he wasn’t having too good of a season either, holding a .256 BA with 29 RBIs and 9 HR. (more…)