Cabrera: Trade weakens Athletics

Regardless of whether Oakland General Manager Billy Beane signaled a surrender by trading catcher Jason Kendall, one thing seems certain to one observer: The Athletics are less formidable without the three-time All-Star.

“I don’t think one player means everything for a team,” Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera said Tuesday. “But I think in this case, especially because even though those pitchers are pretty good, they’ve thrown the ball pretty well the last three years because of Jason. He’s a big part of that. He really knows how to call pitches back there.”

The slumping Athletics are turning over their starting catching duties to Kurt Suzuki, a 23-year-old Cal State Fullerton product who before Tuesday had played 11 major league games. Rob Bowen, acquired from the Chicago Cubs on Monday along with minor league pitcher Jerry Blevins in exchange for Kendall, will back up Suzuki.

“I don’t think they’ve given up on the season yet,” Cabrera said of the Athletics, who had lost eight consecutive games before Tuesday to fall 12 games behind the Angels in the American League West. “They have a great lineup ... and they always make runs. We’ve got to keep playing our game and forget about what moves they make.”

Oakland may not be capable of another second-half surge considering a spate of injuries that has sidelined designated hitter Mike Piazza, closer Huston Street and starting pitcher Rich Harden, among others. Now the Athletics find themselves without the steadying influence of Kendall.

“I guess they figured that they already learned how to pitch with Jason and maybe they’re trying to move on to the youngster,” Cabrera said.

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Catcher Mike Napoli said his sprained left ankle “kind of rubs on” a bone spur in the joint that was revealed by recent X-rays. He doesn’t know whether the July 1 collision at the plate that caused his ankle injury also produced the spur or merely aggravated it.

“It pinches on me a little bit, but it’s something that’s going to happen and I’m going to have to deal with it,” said Napoli, who has not decided whether to have the spur shaved or removed. “It’s something to where it’s not going to get any worse.”

Napoli ran the bases aggressively Tuesday but acknowledged being a little hesitant when he changed directions for fear of what he might feel in the ankle.

“I’ve just got to let it go,” said Napoli, who could be activated off the disabled list as soon as Thursday. “I’ve just got to get it out of my head that it’s not going to hurt.”

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The Angels have gone 10 games without a homer, a span of 96 innings dating to Napoli’s eighth-inning homer July 1 in Baltimore. It is the longest power outage for the club since an 11-game drought July 7-21, 1991.

“It’s even a long drought for a team not built around a home run, but this game keeps going,” said Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team has hit 64 homers, ahead of only Kansas City (63) in the AL. “We really have three or four guys in the lineup that can drive the ball, but you’re not going to be able to do it every night.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com