As one of the most storied catchers in baseball history, Jason Kendall brought a tremendous amount of experience and perspective to the field for the Kansas City Royals as their catcher in 2010. Apparently he's wanting to do the same for the organization in another capacity after announcing his retirement earlier this week.
Kendall recently signed a minor-league contract with the team in an attempt to come back and play, trying out his abilities with the AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals. However it didn't work out and Kendall decided to officially hang it up instead.
"If I didn't do what I did now, 10 years from now I'd be upset and say, 'Why didn't I do it?'" Kendall said. "But I tried. My arm just wouldn't hold up. I'd had 10 surgeries in my career, and I didn't want to have another one."
While he spent the majority of his playing career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kendall says he'd rather stay at home in Kansas and work with the Royals post-playing career.
"I want to say in the game," Kendall said. "I going to sit down and talk to Dayton and see what's going on. As soon as I had my second surgery last year, teams called and asked about coaching stuff and this and that. I live in Kansas and want to stay in Kansas. ... This team's going to win, and I'd like to be part of it in some capacity."
As a catcher ranked in the top five all-time in games caught, Kendall would have a lot to teach a young team like the Royals.