Well, at least this shouldn't terribly impact Project 2012:

Royals catcher Jason Kendall is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery Friday on his right shoulder after an examination earlier this week revealed extensive tearing in his rotator cuff.

--snip--

Kendall, 36, is in the first season of a two-year, $6 million deal signed last December as a free agent. He finishes the season with a .256 average in 118 games. He had 18 doubles but no triples or homers while driving in 37 runs.

Yost said Kendall suffered the injury July 17 against Oakland on a slide while stealing second base. Kendall responded, initially, to receiving a cortisone shot before aggravating the injury in early August on a check swing in Oakland.

“He got to the point where he couldn’t even raise his arm,” Yost said. “He got to the point where he had to take his glove and push his arm back into a throwing position -- and he was still throwing runners out.

“It just shows you the mentality and the mental makeup of Jason Kendall. He would have played the rest of this year if the training staff hadn’t hog-tied him and made him have an MRI.”

The more things change ...

Have you noticed lately that the best organizations don't encourage their players to play hurt? That the best organizations understand that injured players cost you wins today because they're not playing well and in the future because they'll wind up on the DL?

After suffering the shoulder injury on July 17, Kendall started 33 of the Royals' next 41 games. After aggravating the injury in early August, Kendall started 19 of the Royals' 24 games.

Now, this might have made sense if the Royals didn't have any reasonable option.

They did, in Brayan Pena.

This might have made sense if Kendall wasn't signed for 2011.

He is. The Royals owe Kendall $3.75 million next season.

This might have made sense if Kendall was indispensable in 2010.

He hasn't been. The Royals' pitchers have struggled all season, Kendall's throwing arm is just fair, and of course he can't hit. At all.

The Royals were foolish to sign Kendall for two years in the first place. But once they had him signed, they had every reason to keep him healthy for as long as possible.

They didn't. At all.