Everybody knows that the Los Angeles Dodgers might trade Matt Kemp, but is it possible that they could trade him within the NL West to the San Diego Padres?
Say this for Matt Kemp: he understands the National League West. He knows the challenges of patrolling those big outfields and what it feels like to have a potential home run die in that thick west coast air.
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Maybe he wouldn’t be a bad fit for the Padres, though that kind of trade within the division still seems hard to imagine. It would be one thing if the Dodgers were trying to dump Andre Ethier or Carl Crawford on the Padres, but we are talking about Kemp after a resurgent 2014 season.
One year ago, and it might have made sense for the Dodgers to deal Kemp to the Padres. But now that the mercurial but super-talented outfielder is coming off a .287/.346/.506 season? That seems like asking for trouble for the Dodgers.
Ken Rosenthal reports that the Dodgers and the Padres are indeed talking about a potential trade that would involve Matt Kemp:
Sources: #Dodgers continue to discuss trade of Kemp to #Padres. Grandal likely would be in package going to LAD, and SD would get $ in deal.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 4, 2014
We know that the Padres are willing to spend some money this off-season. They were in on Pablo Sandoval and Yasmany Tomas before both of those players landed elsewhere. If they traded Yasmani Grandal, part of their surplus of catchers, as part of a package to then spend that money on Kemp, that would make sense.
What still doesn’t entirely make sense is why the Dodgers would be motivated to make this deal. Perhaps the motivation to clear salary and to also create more playing time for prospect Joc Pederson is enough to trade Kemp within the division.
But man, that seems like a risky move.
One last night: the Rockies have outfielders to trade. The Padres have catchers…would it be so crazy? If this Kemp thing doesn’t work out, that could be something to monitor.