Matt Kemp has arthritis in his hips, jeopardizing trade to Padres
If you’ve been wondering why the heck the agreed-upon trade sending Matt Kemp to the San Diego Padres hasn’t been made official yet, you’re not alone. It’s been a week since news broke that the Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers had a deal in place to send Kemp farther down the California coastline.
The two sides have until the end of Thursday to wrap up their deal. The rumor mill has indicated there were concerns about the physical Kemp took Tuesday with the Padres, and now we’re learning that’s not just gossip. According to Bob Nightengale at USA Today, Kemp’s physical revealed he has “severe arthritis” in his hips.
The San Diego Padres are trying to decide whether to finalize or void their celebrated trade for Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp after his physical revealed severe arthritis in both hips, a person familiar with the diagnosis told USA TODAY Sports … Yet, Kemp’s physical that was taken Tuesday revealed the arthritis, which caught him by surprise. The Padres’ physicians now are discussing whether the arthritis would impact his career.
Keep in mind that there are varying degrees of arthritis, but if it’s been classified as “severe,” then this is serious. Kemp is 30 and is owed $107 million over the next five seasons. As part of the trade, the Dodgers were reportedly giving the Padres $32 million toward Kemp’s salaries.
There were injury concerns before this news too. In the past three years, Kemp has had ankle and shoulder surgeries, plus hamstring issues. But he was healthy and productive in the second half of 2014, which made him an alluring trade chip this winter. He hit .287/.346/.506 with 25 homers and 89 RBIs for the season. Some of that had to come with the hip trouble, unless it just arrived last month.
There’s more than just this trade in limbo for the Dodgers too. They have another deal in place to acquire shortstop Jimmy Rollins from the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies would get back one of the prospects the Dodgers are acquiring from the Padres. So if the Kemp deal falls apart, the Rollins deal would need re-examination too.
Our own Jeff Passan noted Wednesday — before the arthritis news went public — that the Padres could have been stalling to get money from the Dodgers:
Whether the $32 million the Dodgers are offering will suffice is the question, because Texas, where [Padres general manager A.J.] Preller grew his executive chops, has in the past used medical concerns as a way to rework deals at the last minute. And with Kemp’s physical the holdup, 11th-hour haggling remains a roadblock.
If the Padres leaked the info on Kemp’s physical to further leverage the Dodgers, then things could get even messier. As Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports notes, that’s a violation of HIPAA rules:
After Matt Kemp’s tumultuous past three seasons in L.A., it figures that even his exit from the Dodgers wouldn’t go according to plan.
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
