2026 Hall of Fame ballot drags a complicated former Padres star back into the spotlight

The 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot was released on Monday, and it features 12 first-time candidates. One of the many newcomers had an interesting journey through MLB, playing the first nine seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers before making the journey down Interstate 5 to San Diego for not even a full season.

We’re talking about outfielder Matt Kemp, who played for both sides of the Southern California rivalry. But do the Padres really get to claim him?

2026 Hall of Fame ballot forces Padres fans to revisit Matt Kemp’s awkward San Diego run

The Dodgers re-signed Kemp in the 2011 offseason on an eight-year, $160 million deal. After an All-Star season followed by two mediocre ones, Los Angeles traded the then-30-year-old to the Padres, who were also given $107 million to offset the unpaid portions of the contract. The trade was supposed to help improve the worst offense in baseball, but it would go on to do quite the opposite.

Kemp would only go on to play 100 games with his new team before he was eventually dealt again to the Atlanta Braves along with $10.5 million in cash in exchange for third baseman Hector Olivera. In his short tenure with the Padres, Kemp slashed .262/.285/.489 with a 106 OPS+. While he was 6% better than the league-average hitter, it was definitely not worth the price that the team was paying for his services.

In 2017, Kemp went on to put up the worst season of his career with Atlanta, posting a -1.3 bWAR despite batting .272. He put up a fielding run value (FRV) of -18, placing in the bottom 1% by this metric. This would end up being his last season as a Brave, as he was traded back to the Dodgers ahead of 2018.

In his first season back in L.A. since 2014, Kemp earned an All-Star selection and punched his ticket to the World Series, the first and only World Series of his career (Dodgers lost to Red Sox 4–1).

So when we bring up Matt Kemp, it’s best to let the Dodgers claim him, as his time with the Padres and everyone else was so bad it must be forgotten.