Los Angeles Dodgers: Five best trades by Andrew Friedman’s front office

4. Matt Kemp trade

Matt Kemp was one of the most popular Dodgers, ever. To see him traded was a shot in the gut for many Dodger fans, and at the moment, seemed to be a naive deal. However, with hindsight being 20/20, this deal was great in the long-term for the Dodgers.

Despite rebounding in 2014 with a .287 average, 25 home runs and 89 runs batted in the Dodgers front office decided it would be best to cut ties with Kemp and his massive contract. Coming off of a historic 2011 season in which Kemp should have won MVP, the Dodgers signed him to an eight-year, $160 million contract.

With Friedman being a budget spender, adding in the fact that Kemp was injury prone, he made his first big splash by dealing Kemp. In the deal, the Dodgers agreed to pay $32 million of the $107 million that was left on Kemp’s contract. The Dodgers still paid $3.75 million to Kemp this season.

In return, the Dodgers received some pitching prospects that haven’t done much and one big name, Yasmani Grandal. At the time, Grandal was still on the come up and wasn’t regarded as a big addition to this Dodgers team. A.J. Ellis was still the starting catcher and did not look to lose his spot anytime soon.

However, now Grandal is one of the best power hitting catchers in the game and A.J. Ellis is no longer with the Dodgers.