(New York Daily Mirror - October 7, 2009)
NEW YORK - The Knights certainly aren't waiting for the demolition to begin on old Empire Field before starting to prepare for the 2010 season. The club didn't even wait for catcher Jason Kendall to completely clean out his locker after the Knights' recently completed 2009 campaign in which Kendall caught every inning of every game, thanks to the ineptitude of the front office.
While the scaffolding is going up around Empire Field and last minute preparations are being made for the grand opening of spanking-new Knights Field next door, the Knights have already made their first move of the '10 season, trading the stalwart backstop Kendall, an NASBL All-Star in 2009, and the team's fourth round pick in 2010 to Springfield for shortstop Cristian Guzman.
The trade immediately fills a gaping hole in the Knights infield, but the team doesn't appear to be all that concerned about the creation of another one. With captain Michael Young moving to third next season and Clint Barmes manning second, the Knights needed a shortstop. The 'Topes needed a catcher and a higher-level draft pick for 2010, so a match was born.
Guzman, 31, is not a stranger to New York, having played for the Knights in their inaugural season in 2001. He batted a meager .224 then but did smack 13 triples, a team record that still stands. The Knights cut him after the 2001 season, but he was picked up by the Roadkill and had several solid seasons in Georgia. In limited playing time for the 'Topes in '09, Guzman hit .281 with 8 homers, 38 RBI and a .727 OPS.
Kendall, 35, just completed his 11th season in the NASBL, but surely none was more taxing on his abilities. Long-known for his durability, Kendall was forced to catch all of the Knights' 162 games in 2009 due to a front-office error that caused the club to carry only one catcher this season - him. The team's efforts to land a second catcher via a mid-season trade were not successful. A career .304 batter in the NASBL, Kendall has hit over .300 in all but two seasons and has over 1,500 career hits. But the grind of catching 162 games wore him down, causing his offensive production to drop off prohibitively. His .233 average is a career low and he managed just a .599 OPS in 2009.
Apparently, the Knights did not have Kendall in their future plans, even as a backstop. This raised the hackles of some Knights, who felt that the club owed him a debt of gratitude and shouldn't have given him the bum's rush. "It ain't right," said CF Matt Kemp earlier this afternoon when told of the trade. "The man busted his horns for the team and they just throw him out? Sheeeit." Captain Michael Young was more diplomatic about it: "Jason's a great guy and a great teammate, but I know that the club is looking to get younger at catcher. Over the past few years, we've had some older catcher like Javy (Lopez), Varitek and now Jason. The club's looking for someone to anchor that spot for years to come."
Some in the media were surprised when the Knights passed on Geovany Soto with the overall first pick in the draft, but Mitch Pak's instincts in this case were right; while Soto had an OK rookie season with Troy, the team's first pick, Jon Lester, was a 12-game winner with a 3.81 ERA and will probably garner some Rookie of the Year votes.
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