Pittsburgh — Jason Kendall was traded Saturday from Pittsburgh to Oakland, giving the Athletics one of baseball's best top-of-the-lineup hitters and most durable catchers and partly freeing the Pirates of their biggest financial burden.
The Pirates get left-hander Mark Redman to stabilize their rotation and left-handed reliever Arthur Rhodes for Kendall, a three-time All-Star and .306 career hitter.
It's the first career move for the 30-year-old Kendall after nine losing seasons with the Pirates. The Athletics covet him mostly for his career .387 on-base average -- third-best all-time among catchers with 1,000 or more career games caught -- though he only has 12 homers in three seasons since tearing a thumb ligament.
Kendall probably will bat second for Oakland, in front of Eric Chavez, after hitting .319 mostly as a lead-off hitter last season.
"I'm just happy I have an All-Star catcher in the prime of his career who was dying to come to California," Oakland general manager Billy Beane said. "We feel like we're getting a guy in the prime of his career who's really motivated and who's never played for a team in contention before."
Redman, 31 in January, gives Pittsburgh a second left-hander alongside the fast-developing Oliver Perez (12-10, 2.98 earned-run average, 239 strikeouts). Redman was 11-12 with a 4.71 ERA last season after going 14-9 with a 3.59 ERA for World Series champion Florida in 2003, when he was 0-1 with a 6.50 ERA in four postseason starts.
Rhodes, 35, lost his closer's job last season while going 3-3 with a 5.12 ERA, but will be a setup man with Pittsburgh. The trade will save the Pirates about $15 million. They owed Kendall a budget-busting $34 million through 2007.
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