Poll: Should the Dodgers trade Matt Kemp for David Price?

Matt Kemp

Matt Kemp hit 25 home runs with a 140 OPS-plus, while shifting to right field full-time in 2014. (Associated Press photo)

The Detroit News posed the following question yesterday: “How could the Dodgers pass on a Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and David Price 1-2-3?”

To do so, the article suggests, the Tigers might trade Price to the Dodgers for outfielder Matt Kemp, with the Dodgers eating a portion of the five years and $107 million left on Kemp’s contract.

It’s a juicy idea. New Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was Price’s GM in Tampa Bay. The Dodgers have wanted Price since they drafted him out of high school in 2004. The amateur scouting director who drafted Price then (Logan White) is still with the Dodgers, though a few other teams have caught on to Price’s talent in the last 10 years.

For now there is more sizzle than steak. It’s a rumor — a blockbuster fantasy trade proposal for real life.

The only thing we know for sure is that Friedman never had to deal with this many guaranteed long-term contracts in Tampa. We don’t know how he will deal with them in Los Angeles.

Kemp might have been the Dodgers’ best outfielder last season, but Price is a year away from free agency. And on Friday, Friedman said “it’s really important to do as much as you can to put yourself in position to pay for what a player will do, not necessarily what they have done.” Trading Kemp for Price could achieve that.

What say you?


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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.