Matt Kemp Thanks Padres Fans and San Diego

The Padres Era of Matt Kemp is now officially over, and his departure has fans divided over exactly what to think of the nearly two years Kemp “patrolled” right field at Petco Park.

Kemp took to the Players Tribune to talk about how excited he is to become a member of the Braves and to thank the Padres for the time he spent in America’s Finest City.

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In the article, he wrote:

“While I may no longer be a member of the Padres, San Diego will still be a place I call home, and the city where I plan to start my family. I also want to thank the team’s amazing fans. Thank you for welcoming me with open arms, and for being so friendly.”

Kemp came to the Padres in a blockbuster trade with the Dodgers in the Fall of 2014, the first of many big moves for new General Manager A.J. Preller. Some Padres were skittish after he famously stalked the Petco Park Players entrance waiting for Carlos Quentin after the Quentin-Zack Greinke skirmish in 2013. Yet immediately that seemed like history as he patched things up with Quentin and was the clubhouse leader that Justin Upton was not.

In 2011 he nearly won the NL MVP Award after hitting .324 with 39 home runs and 126 RBI. He saw a big drop off in 2012, 2013, and the first half of 2014. The second half he was finished strong to end up with 25 homers and 89 RBI, but rumors persisted that he divided the clubhouse between himself and Yasiel Puig. So off he went to San Diego.

Last year, he became the first Padres outfielder with 100 RBI since Greg Vaughn in 1998, slugged 23 home runs but saw his OPS drop to .755 from a career mark of .829.

This year he was still showing all of the power but his defense became more of a concern, not to mention the top two Padres prospects in AAA are outfielders in Manuel Margot and Hunter Renfroe. Throw in the money left in his contract for a 31 year old outfielder and the Padres had to trade him.

The Braves might be building up to really go for it in 2017 with their new stadium, so once again Matt Kemp becomes the symbol of that push to go big and bring home a championship. Kemp wrote “I am truly sorry that I wasn’t able to accomplish my main goal as a Padre — to help bring the city its first World Series title. But I genuinely loved playing in San Diego, and I will always have fond memories of those experiences.”

Kemp showed that he certainly wasn’t “done” as a productive major league hitter in San Diego, but he never did help lead the Padres to new heights. Much as James Shields was supposed to be pitching equivalent of Kemp: elevating the other players through leadership by example, Kemp too was a symbol of the “Great AJ Assemble” that went wrong in 2015. As soon as Derek Norris is traded it’s almost as if that whole thing never happened. Best of luck in Atlanta, Matt.