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BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2013		No longer able to hack it as a regular, Kennedy turned in a useful season as a bench player, spotting occasionally at third or second base against righties without ever getting an extended look, even amid the Biblical slew of injuries that befell the Dodgers' infielders. Despite missing six weeks in the second half with a recurrent groin strain that ended his season in early September, he ranked second on the team with 33 pinch-hit appearances, and hit righties well enough that he should find part-time work again.
2012		On the last day of the 2006 season, Adam Kennedy walked into the clubhouse and saw he was batting cleanup. Mike Scioscia occasionally uses that spot in the lineup to reward players (he once let Chone Figgins hit fourth because he reached a stolen base milestone) and it was Kennedy's final game as an Angel. He had never batted cleanup before—not even high school or college—and didn't expect to again. Five years later, coming off a .327 slugging percentage, and one of the least utile utilitymen in the game, something unthinkable happened: Kennedy batted cleanup eight times for the 2011 Mariners, hitting a wretched-but-insignificant .167/.235/.233. More significantly, he hit .190/.218/.285 in the second half, making clear he's in the sunset of his career, which didn't stop the Dodgers from signing him to an $800,000 deal.
2011		"The Oberkfell Puzzle" is not the latest Swedish mystery, it's the proposition that utilitymen who can't play short or center or catch need to do something else well to merit a spot on the majors. Kennedy suffers from a short supply of tangible talents. He can still catch up with a fastball, spray singles around the park, and steal the odd base, but that makes for a fairly limited set of skills to offer a team. He drifted info Washington as infield insurance after winding up one of last winter's free-agent losers, having failed to earn any security after his bounce-back season in Oakland. Pressed into the lineup after Cristian Guzman was dealt to Texas, he didn't hit, putting him back where he was after failing the Cardinals: adrift and running out of chances.
2010		After he failed to make the Rays' roster out of spring training, Kennedy killed time at Durham until they dealt him to Oakland. He turned into one of Oakland's most valuable performers by sheer adequacy, filling in for the injured Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis while putting together the best year of his career since his 2002 season with the Angels. Kennedy remains the same player he was in his 20s, an infielder who can hit for average while popping a smattering of extra-base hits. His career reinvigorated by his Bay-side stay, he remains a free agent at press time, but one with plenty of suitors.
2009		Kennedy saw his bat revive a bit last year after losing its pulse in 2007, and he also played outstanding defense; with Kennedy at second, Izturis at short, and Glaus and Pujols at the corners, the Cards might have had the best infield defense in the majors. The Cards' rotation is made up of fly-ball pitchers, however, which lessens Kennedy's value, but it wouldn't be the worst thing to keep him around as the starter in the last year of his $10 million, three-year pact. The Cards shopped him following the season, but they'll likely go into camp with Kennedy set to see the majority of starts after parting ways with Aaron Miles.
2008		Playing Hoffpauir would involve recognizing Kennedy as a sunk cost. A remarkably consistent player prior to last year, Kennedy had his worst season at age 31 and is signed for both 2009 and 2010 at a cost of $7.5 million. With a thousand games at second base under his belt and almost all of his value tied up in his bat speed and legs, the sudden decline isn't surprising. While a dead-cat bounce is likely, he's no better than a replacement-level player and a drag on the roster.
2007		A lot of his value offensively is in his line-drive stroke, and batting averages can move around, but he has a bit of doubles power, and he won`t absolutely refuse to take a walk. His defensive skills are similarly understated but useful. What`s a little more troubling is that Kennedy`s going to be 31, and his PECOTA comparables are all guys whose careers fell apart around that age. Still, if he has years as good as Mickey Morandini did in 1997 and 1998 at ages 31 and 32 (.295/.376/.382 combined), you have to figure the Cardinals will take whatever they get in year three of his new deal.
2006		Kennedy missed the first month of the season recovering from knee surgery, but ended up fourth on the Angels in VORP anyway. Some of that is the value of having a good hitter at second base, but it`s also a reflection of the lineup`s general mediocrity Kennedy had an insane June (.435/.479/.529), kept his batting average high all season, and was the only Angel to finish the year over .300. He hit more balls on the ground than ever last year, perhaps boosting his average but sacrificing what little power he had. Now 30, Kennedy is just good enough to play. With Kendrick coming up fast and Kennedy`s contract up at the end of the season, Stoneman has a nifty bargaining chip to offer around. There are a lot of teams that could use a hitter as reliably useful as Kennedy is.
2005		Kennedy totaled his MCL and ACL in September, shelving him for the playoffs, spring training, and perhaps April. He was having a season roughly identical to his 2003, and a stay at this level, rather than bouncing back to that of 2002, is most likely. The loss in batting average from that season to this has been neatly offset by an increase in his walk rate. The Angel most likely to strike out, in part because he was working deeper counts than he had before (3.96 pitches per plate appearances, a career high). It will be fascinating to see if he continues to buck Hatcher's philosophies, assuming his approach survives the knee injury.
2004		While the shape of Kennedy's performance has been all over the place, the value has been fairly consistent. His walk rate spiked in '03, but he wasn't seeing more pitches (3.77 per PA, vs. 3.79 in '02 and 3.77 in '01), so it may have just been a blip. The Angels committed to him over the winter with a three-year, $8.85 million contract. Given that he's just 28 and has shown a number of skills at various times, that seems like a very good deal for them. Kennedy is unlikely to hurt them, and could peak around .330/.370/.490 during the contract.
2003		Kennedy is a great example of the Angels’ blend of strengths and vulnerabilities. He’s a good defensive player whose offensive production is highly dependent on his ability to hit for a very high batting average, much like Anderson, Erstad, and Fullmer. If he hits .312 and carries a great glove, he’s an asset. If he hits .280 and the leather slips just a little, he’s a problem. For the foreseeable future, he’s a pretty good bet to be an asset, and he should exceed the forecast above.
2002		Kennedy has paid lip service to avoiding outs but hasn’t shown any improvement in doing so. Another Angel stuck in neutral, he’s essentially the same player he was in 1999: enough power to be intriguing, but otherwise replaceable. Players this young shouldn’t be known quantities.
2001		For all the hoopla surrounding his performance, this wasn't a good season for Adam Kennedy. While he hit a lot of doubles, he didn't hit home runs, and he took a walk about once every five games. He isn't going to learn plate discipline unless he starts taking instruction from Troy Glaus instead of his "hitting" coach. Kennedy is young and should improve, hitting for a higher average and a little more power.
2000		Much could be made of the fact that Kennedy was the only prospect to play in the Futures Game, the Triple-A All-Star Game, the Pan Am Games and the major leagues. However, he's older than Andruw Jones and has more in common with Jim Gantner than Craig Biggio. Kennedy can spray the ball to all fields and has decent power for a middle infielder, but he could learn a thing or two about taking pitches. He's not a burner on the bases and has work to do on his fielding. His chance to start 2000 as the Cards’ second baseman died when the team picked up Fernando Vina.
1999		Named one of the top hitters to come out of the ’97 draft, Kennedy is considered a great athlete but not a great shortstop. The Cardinals were thinking about moving him to second at the start of the year, but then Jason Woolf got hurt, so he moved up to Arkansas to play short, and then he wasn’t so bad there, and suddenly he’s still a shortstop. A separated shoulder suffered in the Arizona Fall League isn’t going to require surgery, so he’ll get a look in camp at both second and short for the major league squad.

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