How the Los Angeles Dodgers will replace each off-season loss
By Jason Reed
Andre Ethier → Matt Kemp
Talk about a nostalgia trip. Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier practically grew up with me as I fell in love with the game of baseball. My first ever Dodger game was in Ethier’s rookie year. Kemp was by far my favorite Dodger (I would say I have not liked a Dodger as much as I liked Kemp since) and was the first true superstar I fully got to witness in LA.
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Now, Kemp is again a Dodger and Ethier looks to be ending his Dodger career following the only RBI in game seven of the World Series. Kemp is nothing more than a salary cap move and Ethier was nothing more than a veteran presence off of the bench. Heck, he only played 38 games over the course of the last two seasons.
Ethier is not a big loss, or a loss at all really, to the Dodgers in 2018. Sure, his veteran insight and locker room presence will be missed. Now, that role is going to go to Matt Kemp (and the newly re-signed Chase Utley).
Kemp has had his past of locker room turmoil and may not seem like the most insightful veteran. However, Kemp went through it all with the Dodgers, he was that Dodgers in the early 2010s.
Kemp will not play a big role. His defensive significantly limits him from playing any significant role for the Dodgers in 2018. However, for us fans, Kemp provides a flash to the past that we all hate to admit we love.
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As much hate as he gets, as much as everyone wants to point out how bad he is now, as much as everyone will demand for the Los Angeles Dodgers to trade him; no Dodger fan can sit here and tell me that they will not jump out of their seat and cheer with joy like it is 2011 when Kemp hits that first home run back in Dodger blue.