It’s one of those things that falls under the category of ‘missed a perfect opportunity to keep your mouth shut,’ as my father would often tell me as a youngster. It occurred when former nine-year Dodger and two-year Padre outfielder Matt Kemp was being traded to the Atlanta Braves on August 2, 2016:

Any way you slice it, Kemp’s ill-advised quote was a slap in the face to both Dodgers and Padres fans, not to mention that it was factually flawed – at least if you use attendance numbers to determine what is or is not a real baseball town. And while Kemp’s comment to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman may have endeared him with his new Atlanta Braves fans, it slammed the door in the face of the dwindling number of Matt Kemp fans in Los Angeles and San Diego.

There is no disputing that Matt Kemp was once among the most beloved Dodgers on the team. Now? Not so much. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Lo and behold, on Saturday afternoon it was confirmed that the now 33-year-old Kemp and the $43 million remaining on his 8-year / $160 million contract through the 2019 season had been traded back to the Dodgers by the Braves as part of a blockbuster five-player trade that was, of all things, a salary dump for both teams. And even though the Dodgers are back on the hook for that $43 million still owed to the Midwest City, Oklahoma native over the next two seasons, it got them out from under the combined $47.5 million that they owed first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, left-hander Scott Kazmir and right-hander Brandon McCarthy in the final season of their respective contracts for 2018.

The blatantly obvious problem is that because of his earlier contemptuous comment about Los Angeles and San Diego not really being baseball towns and his diminishing baseball skills – especially defensively – it’s probably safe to say that there are more non-Matt Kemp fans in LA than there are actual remaining Matt Kemp fans. And even though Dodgers jersey number 27 is currently available, thereby allowing those remaining Matt Kemp fans to dig them out from the far reaches of their hall closets, the general consensus among baseball writers is that the 6′-4″ / 210-pound once-fan-favorite will most likely never set foot in the outfield at Dodger Stadium … at least not while wearing said jersey.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is, what team out there would be willing to take on that $43 million still owed to Kemp over the next two seasons for a guy who is clearly past his prime and who has a reputation for being a malcontent? That said (or at least asked rhetorically), with the Dodgers already having an abundance of much younger and far more talented outfielders currently on their 40-man roster and deep within their farm system, there is also the possibility that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi may simply choose to designate Kemp for assignment. And even though Friedman didn’t come right out and say that this is a distinct possibility when he spoke with reporters on Saturday afternoon following the trade announcement, he did suggest that the Dodgers have options available to them with regards to Kemp.

“Just how it plays out from here I’m not sure,” Friedman said. “I had a good conversation with Matt earlier and was very honest and open with him about what the future might hold. It’s just too difficult to say definitively at this point.”

Although Friedman’s non-answer leaves a wide range of possibilities, it certainly doesn’t sound as though the Dodgers president is convinced that Matt Kemp will be on his team’s Opening Day roster on March 29, 2018 … but you never know.

Stay tuned…