Braves outfielder Matt Kemp could be one of the top trade deadline targets for contending teams this summer, writes Bob Nightengale for USA Today on Tuesday.
The Braves acquired Kemp late last season in a trade with the San Diego Padres for Hector Olivera. Since then, he’s batted .305 with 20 home runs in 95 games, and is batting .337 with 8 homers and 27 RBI so far this season.
He’s still owed $21.5 million over each of the final two years of his contract, and the Braves are paying $18 million annually for 2017-2019 when the $10.5M total they got from Padres in the deal is subtracted. Nightengale suggests the Braves might have to absorb a significant amount of that money in order to move him.
However, if the Braves were willing to do that, he says they could use a trade to even further bolster their highly regarded farm system, especially if they could find an American League trade partner for Kemp, who has more value at the plate than he does in the field.
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