Matt Kemp Out For Good

Yeah, we’re all shocked. I guess we shouldn’t be. We all know Kemp is rustier than Casey Blake standing in a rainstorm holding a leaky pipe on Carl Crawford‘s lawn. Even Kemp is surprised at his inability to play in Baseball games any longer. You can tell by his surprised expression on his face. 

The Dodgers have announced that Matt Kemp will be shut down for the rest of the season, and he will miss the entire postseason as well. According to reports, the Dodgers made the decision sometime around the fourth or fifth inning of Sunday afternoon’s game against Colorado.

Kemp has had an injury riddled 2013 season, and this is a predictable yet sad way for the Bison to end the season. Kemp has missed 83 games this season because of shoulder, hamstring, and ankle injuries. Kemp had been on the disabled list since July 21 when he injured his ankle in a base running mishap in a game at Washington. Kemp returned to the Dodgers on September 9 as a pinch-hitter, and then the next game he went 4 for 4 and everything seemed to be going well for Bison.

Kemp played for the next few weeks without issue. He seemed to be getting his stroke back, and things were looking great for the postseason. Then before Saturday’s game, Kemp re-aggravated his ankle injury during warm-ups. He was jogging for crying out loud. He got hurt when he wasn’t even playing. Kemp’s rusty body could no longer take playing Baseball any longer.

Kemp is out for the year-Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Varying reports around the internet had said that Kemp would be ready to go for the playoffs, and his injury wasn’t a concern. It was described as “minor”, but we all know how things are with Kemp now, and no injury with Kemp is ever “minor” these days. His rustiness is too great.

Kemp was seen on crutches during the club’s postseason rally after Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Colorado. The club announced that Kemp would also need another cleanup surgery on his shoulder in the winter. Kemp had told the media that if he continued to play on his ankle, that it could break. The Dodgers gave Kemp an MRI and discovered significant swelling in his ankle. The doctors ordered Kemp to not put any pressure on it for a month.

Think about that for a minute. His ankle could break if he kept on playing. God only knows why he was playing on a nearly broken ankle. This ends a rollercoaster year for Kemp. The injury comes at a terrible time for the Dodgers. With the Division series starting on Thursday night, the club is preparing to travel to Atlanta for games 1 and 2. With Andre Ethier questionable with his own ankle injury, the Dodgers are suddenly short on outfielders. This could mean outfield starts for Skip Schumaker, Scott Van Slyke, and Jerry Hairston in the playoffs.

Matt Kemp

Kemp has said that he will be the biggest cheerleader in the playoffs. I guess that’s all his rickety body can handle these days.

Matt Kemp finished the 2013 season with a .270/.328/.395 (71 for 263) slash line, with six home runs, 33 runs driven in, and a .723 OPS in 290 plate appearances. Kemp only played in 73 games this season, and the club expects him to be ready for spring training in 2014.