After what seemed like sixteen years of waiting, speculation, rumors, and medical reports, the Padres' acquisition of outfielder Matt Kemp is finally coming to fruition. The long-established terms of the trade will not be changing; the Padres are still sending Yasmani Grandal, Joe Wieland, and Zach Eflin to Los Angeles for Kemp and backup catcher Tim Federowicz, with the Dodgers including $32 million to offset some of the salary Kemp is due.
Apparently the arthritis in Matt Kemp's hips was not as severe as feared, since Padres general manager A.J. Preller followed through on the deal despite not receiving any additional salary relief from the Dodgers to hedge against an increased risk. And, yes, Preller did attempt to use this to get some more money in the deal. Can you blame him? Again, it must not have been that pressing, since at the end of the day the deal got done just the way everyone thought it already was done.
Final amount of money going to the Padres for Matt Kemp is the same as it always was: $32 million, a source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 19, 2014Source: #Padres asked #Dodgers to increase financial contribution, but LAD refused.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 19, 2014Update (6:39pm):
Jon Heyman clears up what was taking so long: getting insurance stuff straightened out.
Holdup on Kemp deal was for SD to work out insurance. All good now.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 19, 2014