The Washington Nationals celebrated the five-year anniversary of their 2019 World Series championship this weekend at Nationals Park, and there was as much attention paid to who wasn’t there as there was to the 12 players from that championship squad who were on hand for the festivities.
Ryan Zimmerman was there. So were Kurt Suzuki, Brian Dozier and a number of other players. Those players still in baseball with other teams — Max Scherzer and Juan Soto — recorded video messages to be played in the ballpark.
Much was made of the absence of World Series Most Valuable Player Stephen Strasburg, but I wasn’t surprised.
The acrimonious negotiations over the seven-year, $245 million contract the late Ted Lerner agreed to following the World Series were only settled weeks ago. More time will likely be needed to heal those wounds.
Let us not forget that Strasburg hated attention — especially the kind of attention that came with his debilitating injuries that made his Nationals’ contract among the worst in baseball history.
I suspect there will be some sort of official Stephen Strasburg Day at some point, perhaps with a number retirement and induction into the team’s Ring of Honor.
Still, the 1A player in the Nationals’ postseason success in 2019 was at the ballpark. Howie Kendrick deserves, if not a place in the Ring of Honor, then at the very least a gold card that allows him to drink for free in the District for the rest of his life.
Kendrick, now 40, was arguably just as valuable as Strasburg in that championship season. He batted .344 with 17 home runs and 62 RBI in 370 plate appearances while seeing playing time at first, second and third.
He blasted a grand slam off Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the National League Division Series, giving Washington a 7-3 win in the series-deciding game. Then Kendrick was named NL Championship Series MVP after going 5 for 15 with four RBI in Washington’s four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Finally, he hit the “clank” home run in Game 7 of the World Serie in Houston — the home run that clanked off the right field foul pole that put Washington ahead in the game and led to their 6-2 series-clinching win.
But Kendrick’s presence off the field may have been just as valuable. He, along with Ian Desmond, may have been the two greatest leaders the Nationals clubhouse had seen. Too bad they didn’t get to see more of that leadership.
After being traded to Washington from Philadelphia in July 2017, Kendrick became a free agent and signed a two-year $7 million deal to stay with the Nationals. He played just 39 games in 2018 before his season was ended with a ruptured Achilles. He was batting .303 with four home runs and 12 RBI before he was lost for the year.
Washington struggled in 2018, Dave Martinez’s first year as manager, with an 82-80 record, finishing second in the division, eight games out of first place. Both Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo said Sunday that they believed the presence of Kendrick for that full season could have had a big impact on their record.
“I think (Kendrick’s injury) was a turning point in the season,” Rizzo said. “He was that kind of performer, first and foremost, and our biggest leader in the clubhouse at the time. It was just a devastating injury and he wasn’t around much. He had his rehabilitation out of town. It took its toll on us.”
Martinez agreed. “I think it absolutely could have been a different season if he (Kendrick) was healthy,” he said. “He was a game-changing type of player.”
His injury did result in Juan Soto being called up from the minors. But club officials had already determined Soto was going to be called up at some point during the 2018 season. It just would have been a matter of when.
Kendrick signed a one-year deal to stay with Washington for the 2020 season. But in the pandemic-shortened 60-game season, he played in just 25 games, batting .275 and announcing his retirement after 15 major league seasons, with a career batting average of .294.
He works for the Phillies now as a special assistant to the general manager, doing a lot of community service work and with baseball’s RBI youth program.
This weekend, though, Kendrick was in Washington with his teammates because that’s what a leader does.
• You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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