The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WHY BRAVES PLAN TO GET RID OF OUTFIELDER
San Diego sending Matt Kemp to Atlanta for the outfielder with issues.
The Braves are close to dumping Hector Olivera, having worked out a trade to send the troubled outfielder to the San Diego Padres for two-time former All-Star outfielder Matt Kemp in a swap of bad contracts. And in the Braves’ case, a creative way to cut ties with a player with whom they no longer wanted to be associated.
The deal was pending physical exams, which in the case of Kemp wasn’t as much a formality as in most trades, because of his hip arthritis. That condition delayed by a week Kemp’s trade from the Dodgers to the Padres in December 2014.
Olivera, 31, is serving an 82-game suspension through Aug. 1 for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic-violence policy after being arrested April 13 and charged with one count of misdemeanor assault and battery for allegedly beating a female acquaintance in an incident at the team hotel in Arlington, Va. She was treated at a local hospital.
Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of the three-team trade that sent Olivera to the Braves from the Dodgers, with the Braves giving up left-handed starter Alex Wood, relievers Jim Johnson and lefty Luis Avilan, and
infield prospect Jose Peraza.
The Braves also got lefty reliever Paco Rodriguez, minor league pitcher Zachary Bird in that trade along with a completive-balance draft pick, the No. 40 overall selection in this year’s June draft, which they used to select high school lefty Joey Wentz. Rodriguez had Tommy John elbow surgery in September and still hasn’t pitched for the Braves.
Olivera is owed $28.5 million from 2017 through 2020, the final four seasons of a sixyear, $62.5 million contract he signed with the Dodgers in March 2015, after defecting from Cuba and being declared a free agent. The Dodgers traded him some four months after signing him, swallowing a $28 million signing bonus and his first year’s salary.
Olivera made his major league debut for the Braves on Sept. 1 and has a .245 average (24 for 108) with two home runs, a .296 OBP and .378 slugging percentage in 30 games, including a .211 average in six games this season before his arrest. He was switched from third base to left field during the offseason and was a below-average defender at both positions.
Kemp, 31, is owed $21.5 million in each of the next three seasons through 2019, and the Dodgers are paying $3.5 million of that amount annually per terms of the trade that sent him to the Padres after the 2014 season. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported the Padres would pay the Braves between $10 million and $12 million as part of the deal.
That means the Braves would end up paying Kemp somewhere between $13.5 million to $15.5 million annually for three seasons.
Kemp has hit .262 with 23 home runs and 69 RBIs in 100 games this season, with 100 strikeouts, 16 walks and a career-worst .285 OBP and .489 slugging percentage.
He isn’t even close to being the player he was when he won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards in 2009 and again in 2011 while manning center field for the Dodgers. He was the National League MVP runner-up in 2011 after batting .324 with league-leading totals of 39 homers and 126 RBIs along with a .986 OPS and 40 stolen bases.
Now regarded as a below-average defensive right fielder, Kemp has had no stolen bases this season after totaling 38 over the previous four seasons. But the Braves like the fact that they’re adding right-handed power and dumping a player who had, quite honestly, been a major disappointment on the field and an embarrassment off it after the April arrest.
Kemp has played only right field the past two seasons, after playing 41 games in center and 44 games in left in 2014.
From the Padres’ perspective, trading Kemp would open a roster spot for one of their outfield prospects. One report out of San Diego said the Padres might even designate Olivera for assignment rather than give him a roster spot.
Braves officials indicated immediately after the April incident that there was no guarantee Olivera would ever play for the team again, and they reiterated those feelings two weeks ago when he began a minor league rehab assignment.
Olivera hit .214 with one homer in 12 games for two minor league teams on his rehab assignment and was 4 for 35 (.114) in nine games at Triple-A Gwinnett. He was in the Gwinnett lineup Saturday before being scratched about 30 minutes before the first pitch as trade talks continued.