Say whatever else you will about him, but Jason Kendall is one tough dude.

Say whatever else you want about the Royals, but they handled this dumb. 2 injuries and they continue to play him.

Tough maybe, but selfish too. The Royals could have taken a look at what Brayan Pena has, maybe even get a long look at Lucas May. Kendall wasn't helping this team win ballgames - even if you get past the fact that winning ballgames should not be their objective this time of year.

Jason Kendall, August 2nd to August 30th: 197 BA/241 OBP/224 SLG, 2 doubles, 13 singles, 84 PA. 19 of 25 basestealers were successful against him during that period.

I don't really get why this organization (a) seemingly mishandles injuries so poorly; and perhaps even more troubling (b) cannot get players to do what they need them to do. This seems to be a trend now - Gil Meche refused to have his shoulder scoped last winter - he sucked for a few months before getting shelved for the year. Rick Ankiel told the Royals he was only playing CF, despite the fact he is probably the 4th best CF on the roster at the time. I don't really get why the Royals are kowtowing to these crappy players. If Kendall doesn't want to get an MRI, that's his right, but the Royals should not have played him until he did.

Knowing Bob Geren, if Kendall were still on the A's, Geren would having him bat 3rd.

When I adopted this handle a few years back, I thought to myself, "Okay, I'll change it when Kendall is out of baseball, shouldn't take long."

Maybe this is the final rotator cuff.

I am shocked to find out that Kendall is only 36. He's had so many phases to his career:

-- all-star catcher
-- post-surgery attempts at LF
-- worst player in baseball
-- mild career renaissance
-- veteran backstop

I'm amazed that Kendall doesn't seem to think at all of his post-playing life. It's not that difficult to imagine him doing some sort of permanent damage that might, say, prevent him from playing golf in his retirement. At the very least his tough guy shenanigans make it more likely that he'll have an arthritic shoulder at some point in the future. If he's playing for a contending team, sure, but for the Royals?

I'm amazed that Kendall doesn't seem to think at all of his post-playing life. It's not that difficult to imagine him doing some sort of permanent damage that might, say, prevent him from playing golf in his retirement. At the very least his tough guy shenanigans make it more likely that he'll have an arthritic shoulder at some point in the future. If he's playing for a contending team, sure, but for the Royals?

Kendall really is the ultimate competitor. I honestly think that he expects to play until he dies on the field, and gets carried off like a gladiator.

It would be un-Kendall for him to worry about retirement.

I'm amazed that Kendall doesn't seem to think at all of his post-playing life. It's not that difficult to imagine him doing some sort of permanent damage that might, say, prevent him from playing golf in his retirement. At the very least his tough guy shenanigans make it more likely that he'll have an arthritic shoulder at some point in the future. If he's playing for a contending team, sure, but for the Royals?

Kendall is Pat Borders v2.0 in his desire to keep playing. He won't quit, even if people stop offering him contracts.

A decade from now, we'll still hear occasional reports about Kendall trying out for Indy league teams, trying to get another couple games in.

Kendall really is the ultimate competitor. I honestly think that he expects to play until he dies on the field, and gets carried off like a gladiator.

That'd be awesome. If he's down for it I am too.

Kendall is Pat Borders v2.0 in his desire to keep playing. He won't quit, even if people stop offering him contracts.

The one significant difference is that Borders made $9.4 million over his career, while Kendall will be over $82 million when this contract is up. If Borders was at all clever with his money then he should be fine, but he's still in the zone where a little more could always help. Borders is perhaps a bit closer to Sal Fasano than he is to Rickey Henderson.

At least Rickey had the HOF to look forward to when he retired. I think Kendall probably has a bench coach job in his future.

Hell, Kendall couldn't throw anybody out when he was with the A's when he had a shoulder.

Even though he was terrible at stopping Chone Figgins from stealing second and hit nine thousand groundball outs to the shortstop and third baseman and had absolutely no power I am still fond of him because:

1) He won a game by corralling a wild pitch, and diving into sliding spikes with his face to get the out.

2) K-Rod's sulk-off. (K-Rod snapped at a throw back to the pitcher and missed the ball. Kendall charged home with the game winner.)

3) He ended two games in one season with double-plays where one of the outs was catcher interference. He purposefully looked for batters to fall over the plate on their swings and would make sure his hand hit the batter on his (lame) throw to second.