Dodgers fans will love Matt Kemp roasting Padres for being irrelevant

Dodgers sixth-round draft pick-turned All-Star-turned front office member Matt Kemp was well-traveled throughout the NL West throughout his 15-year career. He was with the Dodgers for the first 10, and he racked up two All-Star appearances, two Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers during his tenure. He's probably most remembered for his 2011 season, when he placed second in MVP voting behind Ryan Braun in a BBWAA decision that Dodgers fans are still sore about.

Kemp joined the Dodgers front office in the offseason in an advisory role and officially announced his retirement from the game on May 5 this year, despite not playing since 2020. By the time he was done, he'd had a place in the Dodgers, Padres, and Rockies organizations.

He was traded to the Padres in the offseason between 2014 and 2015, but he only lasted about a year and a half there before being traded again to the Braves.

In his retirement, Kemp had a few interesting things to say about his time with the Padres. On The Pivot (notably, the same podcast Jazz Chisholm Jr. went on to slam Miguel Rojas earlier this year), Kemp said he was relieved to get out of San Diego because he "was used to being in LA people hold you accountable. [...] I was like, I need to go somewhere where it matters."

Former Dodgers star and current front office member Matt Kemp throws heavy shade at Padres in new podcast appearance

Kemp didn't say word-for-word that he thought Padres baseball was irrelevant, but that was definitely the vibe he was putting out. In context, it was probably more of a shot at San Diego media than it was at the team itself, as he went on to talk about an absence of reporters hounding him through a slump when he first got to the team, but it's still pretty funny.

He did make his rather short stint in San Diego feel like a bit of a bad dream as well, because he hit better in his one year with the Braves than he did with the Padres, and when he returned to the Dodgers for a season in 2018, he hit .290 and appeared in his third and final All-Star Game.

The 2024 Padres aren't doing much to prove Kemp wrong, either; they're second in the division but still below .500, with the Giants and Diamondbacks hot on their heels.