Without nary a whisper the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a stunner and blockbuster in its own right by acquiring Matt Kemp from the Atlanta Braves in a five-player trade. The deal was an exchange of bad contracts and a salary dump for both teams.
The Dodgers are among the clubs who are focused on remaining under the $197 million tax threshold this season. It would reset their repeater tax to 20 percent, leaving the team in better position to be major players for the likes of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and perhaps Clayton Kershaw.
So it stands that although they seemed to have encountered some difficulty in doing so, the Dodgers prefer to trade Kemp and the remaining $43 million on his contract over the next two years.
Kemp was not among the players at Dodgers FanFest over the weekend, and both general manager Farhan Zaidi and manager Dave Roberts spoke in uncertain terms about the 33-year-old outfielder’s future with the organization.
As the Dodgers front office continues to work on a solution, Kenley Jansen spoke fondly of reuniting with the player the organization selected in the sixth round of the 2003 Draft.
“I’ve been in contact with Matt all the time. I understand what the Dodgers are trying to do and try to go under the luxury tax to try to reset. Totally understandable,” Jansen said at Fanest.
“To just have Matt back, if it’s a situation that he is going to stay here, we’re all excited. We have our confidence what Andrew and Farhan are going to do. They put us in a great situation for us to try to hopefully win a championship multiple times. To have Matt back is awesome.”
With players due to report for Spring Training in a two weeks, Zaidi said the club is fully prepared to open camp with Kemp still in the fold.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him in Spring Training. Whatever happens, happens. That’s the position that the front office has to take, but I believe that he can help us tremendously,” Jansen added.
“He’s in great shape. He was here a few days ago and he lost a lot of weight. We all saw what Matt did. With his bat, he can carry an organization.”
Kemp hit .292/.349/.495 with 215 doubles, 182 home runs and 648 RBI in 1,116 games over nine seasons with the Dodgers. He was the National League MVP runner-up in 2011, a decision that stung once Ryan Braun apologized for PED use.
Last season, Kemp batted .276/.318/.463 with 23 doubles, 19 home runs, 64 RBI and a 103 OPS+ in 115 games for the Braves.
