We finally found out the hold-up in the now week-old trade of Matt Kemp to the Padres. A physical exam reportedly showed that Kemp has arthritis in both hips, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
Kemp's injury history is well known, but it included two left shoulder surgeries, one right ankle surgery and three left hamstring strains in 2012-2013. The hip news is new, and it isn't yet known just how this will affect the trade.
One week ago, the Dodgers reportedly agreed to send Kemp and catcher Tim Federowicz to San Diego in exchange for catcher Yasmani Grandal and pitchers Joe Wieland and Zach Eflin, with Eflin to be sent to the Phillies to complete the trade for Jimmy Rollins.
It is worth noting that, unless the arthritis somehow showed up after the season, Kemp did hit .287/.346/.506, a 140 OPS+ with 25 home runs and a career-high-tying 38 doubles with those bum hips.
It seems likely that the Padres are trying to squeeze the Dodgers to pay more than the $32 million they already agreed to send, to cover the remaining $107 million on Kemp's contract.
Having the information on his hips can't be good for Kemp, especially if the Padres were the ones who leaked his medical information to try to get a better deal, or for the Dodgers if the trade falls through, receiving back an unhappy player who would be harder to trade, and with the catching position still in need of an upgrade. Not to mention needing to rework the Rollins deal.
But until we hear otherwise, both teams still want the trade to happen, perhaps in a slightly altered form.
"Everything is okay. We're just waiting on the final details," Kemp's agent Junior Spiveytold Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports on Thursday morning, before the hip news leaked. "Should be good to go."
We'll see.