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Agent Larry Reynolds On Justin Upton, Howie Kendrick

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Larry Reynolds, the agent whose client list includes Justin Upton and Howie Kendrick, spoke to MLB Network Radio Sunday. Here are the highlights (links to SoundCloud).

  • Upton ended up with a robust six-year, $132.75MM deal with the Tigers this winter, Reynolds says that Upton’s search for a new team hit a snag this offseason before he ultimately signed. Some teams’ potential interest in Upton was muted by their desire to avoid exceeding the luxury tax threshold. (Reynolds doesn’t say who, but it’s easy to imagine the Angels, for example, worrying about that issue.) Also, a robust trade market held up potential free agent signings, with some teams wanting to explore that market before making a commitment to a free agent. Reynolds also says that many teams were offering Upton short-term deals. The agent understandably notes that he found such deals unappealing, given that Upton is highly talented and just 28. Of course, Detroit ultimately came through with a long-term offer.
  • It was, perhaps, a rough winter for Kendrick, who lingered on the free agent market before officially signing a seemingly disappointing two-year, $20MM deal to stay with the Dodgers. The qualifying offer had a strong impact on Kendrick, Reynolds says, since he didn’t have the “star power” of some other free agents who rejected the QO. For Kendrick, the effect of the qualifying offer on his market wasn’t purely about the amount of money he could get, but about the way it restricted his ability to choose what team (what manager, what front office, and so on) he wanted to play for. Reynolds says that it “wasn’t a slam dunk to jump out into the market” rather than accepting the qualifying offer, but Kendrick felt, and Reynolds agreed, that Kendrick had earned the right to choose his next team via free agency.

Quick Hits: Bell, Linares, Puig, Jackson, Rays

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The big ticket free agents aren’t always the most important offseason additions, writes AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Using the Steamer projection system, Cassavell takes a look at the six players he thinks will most affect their respective divisions. Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman and Cubs center fielder Jason Heyward are obvious picks. Surprisingly, Cassavell finds Mike Napoli to be the big name in the AL Central while Wade Miley’s move to Seattle could be sneaky important.

Here are a few more notes from around the league:

  • Cuban veterans Alexei Bell and Yordanis Linares will hold workouts on February 15 and 16 in Baja California, tweets Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. Bell, 32, was reported to have left Cuba on January 13 and could fit as a right fielder. Linares’ defection was reported last summer. The 26-year-old doesn’t have enough professional experience in the Serie Nacional to avoid international spending restrictions. Bell, however, can be signed by any team.
  • The White Sox should target Yasiel Puig, opines Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Chicago has shown curiosity about the Dodgers outfield depth and could obviously stand to improve in the outfield. Rumors have tied them to veteran lefty Andre Ethier who could provide a useful platoon bat. However, Puig represents a more definitive upgrade with a star ceiling. Unfortunately, young talent comes with a price. Merkin lists pitchers Carson Fulmer, Spencer Adams, and shortstop Tim Anderson as possible targets for the Dodgers. Trading any of that trio would be a bitter pill to swallow.
  • The Indians could be a fit for free agent outfielder Austin Jackson, suggest Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. Center field depth would be useful considering that Michael Brantley will start the season on the disabled list. Lonnie Chisenhall, Rajai Davis, and Abraham Almonte figure to form the Opening Day outfield, and it’s not hard to see a way to improve upon that trio. At the very least, additional depth in case of injury would be valuable.
  • The Rays should consider three more offseason moves, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The bullpen could use additional depth – perhaps Tyler Clippard or Tommy Hunter. Either Desmond Jennings or Brandon Guyer can be traded. The team is deepest with them on the roster, but they may be expendable. Jennings’ health may make a trade difficult. Lastly, Ian Desmond looks more and more attractive as a buy low option. The Rays have to be willing to discard their 13th overall selection in the draft if they’re to sign Desmond.

Dodgers Notes: Puig, Ryu, Ethier, Kendrick

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Andre Ethier has been the most oft-mentioned trade candidate for the Dodgers recently, in part, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link), because Los Angeles is telling teams with interest in Yasiel Puig that Puig is not available at this time. Puig isn’t without his red flags, as he’s facing potential disciplinary action in connection with domestic violence allegations, is coming off a down season and has long come with questions about his clubhouse persona. Of course, even Puig’s “down” season saw him bat a solid .255/.322/.436 with 11 homers in 311 plate appearances, and he remains just 25 years of age with a considerable track record of elite production under his belt. Puig’s contract guarantees him $19.5MM over the next three seasons, although it also allows him to opt into arbitration once he is eligible next offseason, so it’s perhaps likely that he’ll instead go that route, as his earning capacity figures to be greater going down the arbitration path.

A few more Dodgers-related notes…

  • Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi was a guest on High Heat with Chris Russo on the MLB Network today (video link) and discussed a number of topics regarding the upcoming season. In regard to left-hander Hyun-jin Ryu, who underwent shoulder surgery and missed all of the 2015 season, Zaidi stopped short of declaring that he’d be ready for Opening Day but did say the Korean southpaw’s recovery is progressing as expected. Zaidi sounded hopeful that Ryu would indeed be available, but as the GM noted, it’s impossible to project a player’s return from that type of procedure before seeing him pitch in a game setting.
  • Zaidi deflected the notion that the team is looking to move Andre Ethier, stating that, “Right now, he’s a really important part of our team,” mentioning Ethier’s quite-productive numbers from the 2015 season (albeit in a platoon capacity). Zaidi acknowledged that the Dodgers have quite a bit of outfield depth and stressed that earlier in the offseason, the team was open to various scenarios involving a number of their players. “But right now, we have nothing going on,” Zaidi continued. “…We expect [Ethier] to be here in 2016.”
  • Howie Kendrick, whose two-year, $20MM contract with the Dodgers became official today, will see time not only at second base but also at third base in 2016, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters, including Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times, on today’s conference call. “He expressed a willingness to play different spots,” said Friedman of Kendrick. “That’s when things kind of accelerated.” Friedman said there could be as many as 1400 at-bats to go around between Kendrick, Chase Utley and Enrique Hernandez, with each expected to play multiple positions. As Shaikin notes, Kendrick’s willingness to play third base is of particular importance given Justin Turner’s offseason knee surgery and the fact that Turner has never played more than 126 games in a season before.
  • Interestingly, Shaikin adds his own bit about the recent trade talks between the Dodgers and White Sox, reporting that the Sox actually approached the Dodgers about Puig, but the Dodgers instead tried to sell the Sox on trades involving Ethier and Carl Crawford. At this point, there’s very little traction between the two sides, a source tells Shaikin.
  • Kendrick and his agent, Larry Reynolds, were among those that spoke to Nightengale for a full column on the problems caused by the current qualifying offer system. Reynolds, an agent for 32 years, told Nightengale that Kendrick’s free agency was the most difficult of any throughout his career representing players. Kendrick himself expressed surprise at the lack of interest in him: “Nobody wanted to give up that draft pick. It was a shocker.”

Dodgers Announce Howie Kendrick Deal

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The Dodgers have announced the re-signing of infielder Howie Kendrick to a two-year contract. Reports suggested the deal will pay the veteran $20MM.

New details on the payout have been reported today by Jon Heyman (Twitter links). Kendrick will receive $10MM annually in each year of the contract, half of which will be deferred. But Heyman suggests that the deferrals won’t significantly reduce the contract’s value.

The 32-year-old Kendrick will also cost the Dodgers the opportunity to add another draft pick. He previously declined a $15.8MM qualifying offer, which obviously did not pay off in the end. But it’s hard to fault Kendrick and his reps for that decision, as he seemed to be in line for a much bigger payday; MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes, for instance, predicted that Kendrick could land $50MM over four years.. (And it isn’t as if the downside scenario is all that bad.)

Bringing back Kendrick not only plugs in a talented veteran, but effectively adds to the Dodgers’ already impressive depth. Going back to 2010, Kendrick owns an excellent.289/.332/.418 slash. His steady contributions at the plate have been accompanied by good-enough work in the field and on the bases, making him an above-average regular.

While Kendrick says he’s “thankful” to be returning to L.A., he also tells Bob Nightengale of USA Today that he was shocked at how his market played out. Interest was minimal despite his long track record of sturdy production, said Kendrick, with the QO-driven draft compensation seemingly proving a significant impediment.

“I figured there would be quite a few suitors for me, and nobody was really calling,” said Kendrick. “Here it is, getting close to spring training, and you keep hearing the same thing over and over. Nobody wanted to give up that draft pick. It was a shocker.’’

Indeed, while market peculiarities probably also played a role — including relatively low demand and several trade candidates — it is hard to deny the impact of the qualifying offer. Ben Zobrist was heavily pursued and earned a $56MM guarantee, while a lesser (albeit shortstop-capable) player in Asdrubal Cabrera earned nearly as much as Kendrick. While fellow QO recipient Daniel Murphy fared better, his own $37.5MM deal also came in shy of expectations.

White Sox Seek Lefty Outfield Bat, Inquired On Andre Ethier

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FEB. 4: The Dodgers would like to move Ethier, and the Sox do indeed want an upgrade in the outfield, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today, but there’s no sign of a match between the two sides at this time, he hears.

FEB. 3: Chicago has a “strong preference” to add a lefty bat, Rogers tweets. That’s one issue that the team has with a possible signing of Fowler, he notes, since the switch-hitting veteran is better from the right side.

FEB. 2: The White Sox have explored the possibility of a trade for Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier, according to a pair of reports from MLB.com’s Phil Rogers (Twitter link) and Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago/670thescore.com.

The Sox are known to be open to outfield help, having been connected to each of Yoenis Cespedes, Dexter Fowler and Alex Gordon, to varying degrees, over the past five to six weeks. Chicago currently projects to have an outfield of Melky Cabrera, Adam Eaton and Avisail Garcia, but the latter of that trio has yet to produce much at the Major League level. Eaton, of course, is one of the team’s best players and coming off a strong overall season, and while Cabrera stumbled out of the blocks in the first season of a three-year, $42MM contract, he rebounded to bat .288/.330/.449 with 11 home runs in the season’s final four months (109 games, 468 plate appearances).

Ethier could serve as a platoon partner for the right-handed-hitting Garcia, who has a career .284/.341/.424 batting line against left-handed pitching. He could also, as Levine notes, share some time between right field and DH in the event that Garcia and/or LaRoche enjoy a better season with the bat in 2016 than the duo did in 2015. Notably, the White Sox lack a bat that could step in and take reasonably contribute at designated hitter in place of LaRoche, should his problems persist. Mike Olt has huge power but is a career .168 hitter with a 37 percent strikeout rate, and the right-handed hitting Jerry Sands would be in strict need of a platoon partner. (That could be LaRoche himself, although the veteran struggled quite a bit even against right-handed pitching last year.)

From the Dodgers’ perspective, they can not only afford to part with Ethier but would in many ways be thinning out a currently crowded outfield mix. Los Angeles has Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford, Scott Van Slyke, Trayce Thompson and Enrique Hernandez all serving as outfield alternatives on the 40-man roster (though Hernandez, of course, is more of an infielder).

Ethier has long been viewed as an albatross contract, and while the remaining two years and $38MM on his deal are a roadblock in any potential trade talks, there’s no doubt that he did restore some of his value last year when he followed up a .253/.325/.385 performance vs. righties in 2014 with an outstanding .306/.383/.517 line in 2015. Ethier is still in clear need of a platoon partner wherever he goes — he’s received just 99 plate appearances versus lefties over the past two seasons combined — but that type of production is impressive, especially considering his pitcher-friendly home park.

The Dodgers could either offer to eat some of the remaining money on Ethier’s deal — Levine estimates that absorbing half of the sum would get the two teams on the same page — or take on a bad contract from the Sox in exchange. LaRoche, for instance, is owed $13MM this season, so his inclusion in a trade would effectively reduce the White Sox’ financial commitment to a more palatable $25MM over two seasons. Left-hander John Danks is owed $14.25MM and would make sense to some extent in this capacity, though his ability to eat innings as the Sox’ fifth starter carries some value, and the team lacks a clear alternative in the rotation, at least early in the year. Even setting the money aside for a moment, the Sox and Dodgers would also have to agree to additional compensation, as L.A. probably doesn’t view Ethier as a pure salary dump (especially not if they’re offering financial relief in some regard). While Ethier might not command one of the Sox’ top-tier prospects, some form of young talent would have to head back in the direction of the Dodgers for the two teams to line up on a trade.

There’s incentive for the two sides to get something done prior to the season, though, because as Levine notes, Ethier will gain 10-and-5 rights in mid-April, thus giving him the power to veto any potential trade that’s put on the table. The Sox, of course, still have alternative options in the form of other trade possibilities or free agents such as Fowler and Austin Jackson.

Dodgers Hire Greg Maddux, Raul Ibanez As Special Assistants

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The Dodgers have hired former MLB stars Greg Maddux and Raul Ibanez as special assistants to president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and the club’s baseball operations department, per a team announcement.

Maddux and Ibanez are both highly decorated ballplayers, of course, and also have accumulated a fair bit of experience since their playing days ended. They’ll assist in scouting and player development functions, according to the team’s press release.

The 49-year-old Maddux — a recent Hall of Fame inductee — has worked with both the Cubs and Rangers front offices in recent years, as J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles News Group writes. During the 2013 World Baseball Classic, he was the pitching coach for Team USA.

Ibanez, meanwhile, worked as a television analyst last year after wrapping up his 19-year-career following the 2014 season. The 43-year-old has seen his name come up as a possible field staff candidate, but will instead make his first foray into the front office world with Los Angeles.

NL Notes: Seager, Prospects, Cespedes, Rockies, Papelbon

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Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager has been named the game’s best prospect in preseason top-100 and top-101 prospect rankings from MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus.  Seager still qualifies for the lists since he retained his rookie eligibility by only making 113 plate appearances for L.A. last season, though he made a big first impression by hitting .337/.425/.561 in his initial taste of the big leagues.  Twins center fielder Byron Buxton and Nationals righty Lucas Giolito are ranked second and third on both lists, and overall, the National League dominates the upper echelon of both rankings.  Ten of MLB.com’s top 13 prospects are all from NL teams, while 10 of BP’s top 14 youngsters all hail from the senior circuit.  Here are some more items from around the National League…

  • The details of Yoenis Cespedes’ return to the Mets were detailed by COO Jeff Wilpon, GM Sandy Alderson and agent Brodie Van Wagenen in a conference call with reporters (including Mike Puma of the New York Post) earlier this week.  Negotiations quickly picked up steam within about a week’s time, though such important contractual details as Cespedes’ opt-out clause after the first year were agreed upon early in the process.
  • Van Wagenen also discussed his Cespedes’ free agency in a Friday interview with Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (all links to Twitter).  He was in active talks with not just the Mets, but four other teams on the day that Cespedes agreed to re-sign with New York.  In regards to the deal’s structure and the opt-out clause, “it was less about looking toward next year and more about being able to control where he was going to be,” Van Wagenen said.
  • As the calendar turns to February, the Rockies have yet to make any additions to their shaky rotation, the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders writes.  GM Jeff Bridich stressed that the club expects internal upgrades in the form of better health from Jorge De La Rosa, Tyler Chatwood and Jordan Lyles.  As to the club’s rumored pursuit of Yovani Gallardo, Bridich described those reports as “fairly overblown.”
  • Multiple Nationals players tell James Wagner of the Washington Post that they don’t anticipate any clubhouse issues with Jonathan Papelbon in the wake of his infamous dugout skirmish with Bryce Harper last season.  A larger issue, Wagner notes, might be whether the D.C. fans are as forgiving — it’s not hard to see Papelbon receive his share of boos in the early stages of the season, especially if his performance struggles.

Dodgers Notes: Scully, Kendrick, Utley, Turner

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Fans of Dodgers broadcasting legend Vin Scully will be glad to hear that he plans to work a few road games this season, writes Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Scully hopes to cover the end-of-season series in San Francisco as well as games in San Diego and Anaheim. The 87-year-old will retire after the season. As the only remaining solo broadcaster in the majors, Scully is entering his 67th season in booth. He was recently in the news after Los Angeles legislators decided to name a street after him.

Here’s more from the Dodgers:

  • Newly installed manager Dave Roberts says Howie Kendrick is willing to play some third base, tweets Andy McCullough of the LA Times. Kendrick re-signed with the Dodgers yesterday on a two-year, $20MM contract. His addition creates something of a logjam in the infield with Kendrick, Chase Utley, Enrique Hernandez, and others in the mix for reps at second base. While all three players might get a shot at the hot corner, Justin Turner is currently penciled in as the starter there (more on him in moment). The depth should be highly useful to the club, but they’ll have to work hard to find time for everybody.
  • For his part, Utley still expects to split his time between second, third, and first base, writes Gurnick. When the Dodgers signed Utley, there was no expectation they might re-sign Kendrick. The recent move has likely cut into the opportunities for Utley.
  • However, third baseman Turner had offseason microfracture surgery for his left knee. Apparently, his recovery will force the club to move slowly with him at the start of the year. That should open an early season opportunity for Utley. Per Bill Plunkett of the OC Register (via Twitter), Turner is optimistic about an Opening Day return. Even so, he probably won’t be ready for an everyday role.

Dodgers To Re-Sign Howie Kendrick

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The Dodgers have reached agreement on a two-year deal with second baseman Howie Kendrick, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). Kendrick gets a $20MM guarantee over the two years, Jon Heyman tweets.

Jul 6, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman <a rel=

With the move, Los Angeles will sacrifice its chance to tack on an additional draft selection. Kendrick, 32, turned down a $15.8MM qualifying offer from the club earlier in the offseason. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained earlier today, the Dodgers stood to increase their draft pool had Kendrick headed elsewhere.

Instead, the club will add Kendrick right back into a crowded mix of position players. Presumably, he’ll see the bulk of the time at second, displacing an anticipated Enrique Hernandez/Chase Utley platoon. But Hernandez could also spell Corey Seager at short and Joc Pederson in center, while Utley can not only spend time at second but also might fill in for Justin Turner at third. Players such as Micah Johnson, Charlie Culberson, and Alex Guerrero could also feature in the infield mix.

Coming into the winter, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes had predicted that Kendrick could land $50MM over four years. Clearly, he stands to fall well shy of that after his market failed to develop as anticipated. It’s not difficult to see that market developments played a huge role, along with the qualifying offer.

The older Ben Zobrist hit on a $56MM guarantee, besting his own projection. He didn’t carry draft compensation requirements since he was traded in mid-season. Meanwhile, the younger but also QO-bound Daniel Murphy came closer to his expectations with a three-year, $37.5MM pact. But Kendrick was left without an obvious place as the board began to clear. As Steve Adams and I discussed just yesterday on the MLBTR podcast, even the best apparent landing spots all had complications. Indeed, he’ll ultimately take home a guarantee that barely tops that reached by the less-accomplished Asdrubal Cabrera.

At the end of the day, the acquisition cost was much lower than Los Angeles paid the last time they added Kendrick. The Dodgers sent young lefty Andrew Heaney last year for Kendrick (and his $9.5MM salary). And as the qualifying offer shows, the team was willing to pay him over three-quarters of the total value of his new contract for just one season.

As things shook out, it looks like a nice get for the depth-focused Dodgers. While Kendrick dealt with some injuries late last year, and is certainly not the youngest open market option, he’s been a steadily excellent performer for quite some time. Since taking over full-time duties at second with the Angels back in 2010, Kendrick has carried a sturdy .289/.332/.418 batting line. And he’s rarely varied too far from that production level, making him one of the more reliably above-average hitters in the league.

It’s been a while since Kendrick put up his career best of 18 long balls, but he’s a reasonable bet to approach or exceed double digits in that area. And the same holds in the stolen base department, though he’s more of an average overall baserunner than a plus in that area. It’s tough to judge the defensive component for the respected veteran. Kendrick undoubtedly slipped last year, with roundly negative overall glovework in the eyes of both UZR and DRS. But he’s generally been at least an average defender over his career, and even if his loss of range proves permanent, he is still reliable on more easily-made plays.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dodgers “Making Progress” On Howie Kendrick Deal

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10:18am: The Dodgers are “making progress” on a new contract with Kendrick, reports Rosenthal (via Twitter).

8:02am: Despite having already signed Chase Utley this offseason and possessing considerable infield depth, the Dodgers are considering a reunion with Howie Kendrick, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. There are additional factors to consider, as well, he notes, namely that the Dodgers would effectively be surrendering a draft pick by re-signing Kendrick. Despite the fact that they won’t lose an existing pick, Los Angeles would not receive the compensatory pick they’d have landed had Kendrick signed elsewhere after rejecting their qualifying offer back in November. That pick, as it stands right now, would slot in around No. 33 in the draft and give the Dodgers four of the top 36 picks this June — joining their natural No. 22 overall selection, the No. 32 pick they obtained when the D-backs signed Zack Greinke and the No. 36 selection they received as compensation for failing to sign Kyle Funkhouser out of Louisville last year.

While the Dodgers figure to have one of the larger bonus pools in this year’s draft as it is simply by the virtue of those three selections, adding a fourth to the mix would give the club a significant amount of money to implement a creative strategy in the 2016 draft. Going off of last year’s slot values in the draft — and I should note that there was an 8.77 percent increase in slot values between 2014 and 2015 — the Dodgers’ currently projected picks at Nos. 22, 32 and 36 would carry a value of $5.72MM. Adding in a fourth pick in that No. 33 slot, the Dodgers would have $7.55MM in bonus money from their first four picks alone. Based on an estimated slot growth of six percent in 2016 (reflective of MLB’s six percent revenue increase in 2015), Baseball America projects the Dodgers to currently have a bonus pool of $9,296,370 — 10th-largest in the league. Adding in the No. 33 pick and accounting for that same six percent inflation in value, the Dodgers’ draft pool would increase to about $12.15MM — the fifth-largest in the league. The Dodgers, then, would be able to spend roughly $12.76MM on draft bonuses without losing a first-round pick in the future. (The current structure allows a team to overshoot its pool by up to five percent before losing a future pick; the initial 0 to 5 percent overage is taxed at a rate of 75 percent, however.)

Perhaps that’s overthinking the matter at this juncture, but these are factors that the Dodgers, to be certain, have already considered in weighing whether or not to seriously pursue a reunion with Kendrick. Beyond that, though, could simply be where the team would work Kendrick into the lineup and at what rate he is currently willing to sign. Utley currently sits atop the Dodgers’ depth chart at second base, but the team also has the highly versatile Enrique Hernandez as an option at second base, and well-regarded prospect Micah Johnson — acquired in the three-team Todd Frazier trade — is nearly ready for a full-time look in the Majors as well. Alex Guerrero also remains on the roster, though he was used sparingly in the season’s second half and didn’t appear in a big league game at second last season despite it being his most frequently manned position in the minors.

As Rosenthal notes, Justin Turner underwent offseason knee surgery, but he’s said in the past that his expectation is to be 100 percent for Spring Training, and the team has quite a bit of positional depth already; Utley himself is already somewhat of an insurance policy that one can envision eventually moving around the diamond in somewhat of a utility role, and adding Kendrick to either expedite that transition or to fill a similar capacity would make for some high-priced assets lacking a clear opportunity for everyday at-bats over the course of the year.

Of course, the longer Kendrick remains on the market, the easier it is to see him returning to the Dodgers on what some could end up considering a club-friendly deal. While Rosenthal doesn’t specify an asking price for Kendrick, his price has almost certainly dropped since the offseason began. There’s been little in the way of teams connected to Kendrick recently, though the D-backs are said to have some interest. GM Dave Stewart, however, said recently that he wouldn’t part with a second draft pick after surrendering his No. 13 overall pick to sign Greinke. The Angels certainly make some sense as a landing spot for Kendrick, but owner Arte Moreno appears entirely unwilling to surpass the $189MM luxury tax threshold, and adding Kendrick would certainly cause the team to do so. Following an interview with Brewers GM David Stearns on this week’s MLBTR Podcast, Jeff Todd and I took a look at Kendrick’s market and tried to peg some dark-horse suitors for him late in the offseason. Kendrick and fellow middle infielder Ian Desmond were the subjects of a recent poll in which 70 percent of MLBTR readers picked Desmond to earn more than Kendrick in the late stages of free agency.

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