Padres To Acquire Matt Kemp
By Charlie Wilmoth [December 11, 2014 at 5:12am CST]
The Dodgers’ wild day has continued into the morning, as they’ve agreed to trade star outfielder Matt Kemp to the Padres, Dennis Lin and Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union-Tribune report. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported earlier tonight that a deal was close. The deal has not yet been finalized — players still need to take physicals, and the deal (which includes money going from the Dodgers to the Padres) requires the approval of the commissioner’s office, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.
The deal will send Kemp and catcher Tim Federowicz to San Diego, with the Dodgers receiving catcher Yasmani Grandal, righty Joe Wieland, and a third player, likely pitching prospect Zach Eflin. The Dodgers will also include around $30MM to help cover the $107MM remaining on Kemp’s contract, which runs through 2019.
The deal gives the Padres a big bat and star power for their offense, which produced just 535 runs last year, a poor total even in the tough hitting environment in San Diego. The team lost out on Pablo Sandoval and Yasmany Tomas earlier this offseason, but Kemp, who hit .287/.346/.506 with the Dodgers in 2014, gives the Padres the dynamic offensive player they were hoping for. He’ll need to stay healthy, however — he missed significant time in 2012 and 2013 with a series of injuries, and he turned 30 in September. Kemp, who has struggled defensively in center field in recent years, could take one corner outfield spot for the Padres, with Seth Smith in the other. For the Dodgers, the deal clears salary and space in the outfield, where they also have Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier and Scott Van Slyke.
Federowicz, 27, should help the Padres compensate for the loss of Grandal. He has five seasons of team control remaining and is coming off a strong year in a good hitting environment at Triple-A Albuquerque, where he batted .328/.383/.555 in 329 plate appearances. He struggled, however, in a small sample of 78 plate appearances at the big-league level. He’ll likely share the Padres’ catching duties with Rene Rivera.
Grandal, 26, will join A.J. Ellis in manning the catching position with the Dodgers. He hit .225/.327/.401 for San Diego last season and got good marks for his pitch framing. He hit 15 home runs in 2014, a solid total for a young catcher, especially in PETCO Park. He can become eligible for arbitration next offseason and eligible for free agency after 2018.
Wieland, 24, had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and took a long time to recover, but he finally made it back to the Majors in September 2014. He posted good numbers coming through the minors (mostly in the Rangers system), but doesn’t have outstanding stuff and probably profiles as a back-of-the-rotation starter.
The Padres drafted the 20-year-old Eflin (whose inclusion in the deal is not yet entirely certain) in the first round in 2012 out of high school. He posted a 3.80 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 128 innings with Class A+ Lake Elsinore in 2014.
The trade continues a frenzied Winter Meetings for the Dodgers. On Wednesday, the team sent Dee Gordon and Dan Haren to Miami in a seven-player deal and acquired second baseman Howie Kendrick from the Angels. They also reportedly made not-yet-official moves to acquire shortstop Jimmy Rollins from the Phillies and to agree to terms on a four-year deal with starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy.