The first "Fuckin' A" trade of this season

Yesterday morning in my personal blog I typed the following words: This is the problem with A's catching: Jason Kendall.

Then I went on to explain that since he never took a day off, the Catcher of the Future, Kurt Suzuki, would languish on the bench. This is why Adam Melhuse was traded for cash to the Rangers -- Suzuki rides the bench cheaper than does Melhuse. Piazza's floundering about in re-hab to get his arm back into shape in case emergencies happen before the trading deadline (because we know he WILL be traded -- Jack Cust rocks!)

And then bam.

Jason Kendall and his full no-trade clause is suddenly and completely a Chicago Cub. There weren't even whispers that Beane was already on the move and here we have Kendall, a Cub, and some AA lefty a newly-minted Athletic. Turns out the AA lefty was Jerry Blevins and he came with a catcher, Rob Bowen (recently dumped to AAA in order to, as it turns out, make room for Kendall).

A couple things, here. One, for Kendall to be traded with a full no-trade clause he had to approve the trade. So now we know that Kendall wanted to leave. A's fans, stop defending the guy! He did just the same as Zito, just a few months earlier.

Two, we all should have seen this coming! Kendall wasn't going to be a Type A free agent, which means no compensation picks when he signs with another team in the off-season after being offered arbitration by the A's. Beane wasn't going to sign him anyway -- too expensive. His salary this season is $13M and the only reason the A's have him is because Pittsburgh is footing $5.5M of the bill. Thirteen million dollars in 2007 ... what could he command in 2008?

Three, if you're reading this and thinking, "OMG Danny Haren won't have a good catcher anymore, he's gonna suck!!!" you're an idiot. You are also, as far as I can tell, pretty normal for an A's fan living in the Bay Area.

Goodbye, Jason Kendall. Goodbye, Mike Piazza. Hello, Catcher of the Future!

And Dan Haren? He'll be just fine.