<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Make outfielder Matt Kemp available, and the Dodgers' trade options quickly would multiply. Make Kemp available, and the team could put together a package for virtually any hitter on the trade market — the Pirates' Jason Bay, maybe the Tigers' Magglio Ordonez, maybe even the Rockies' Matt Holliday. To this point, the Dodgers have resisted moving Kemp or any of their other top young players, but their stance might be changing. "If we get to the point where we can definitively improve ourselves, we'll do it," general manager Ned Colletti told the Los Angeles Times. Rival executives are skeptical, considering that the Dodgers frequently have backed out of trades involving their youngsters. Dodgers officials, however, say privately that they are indeed more willing to break up their young core. If that is true, Kemp would bring the greatest return. Kemp, batting .299-.346-.446 at age 23, possesses the tools to become a major star. A rival executive describes him as an "awfully, awfully intriguing talent," one who only figures to get better. Questions persist about Kemp's makeup and ability to make adjustments, but those are not unusual criticisms of a young player. A trade of Kemp is not the Dodgers' only alternative — the team also could pursue a less dramatic possibility, trading either first baseman James Loney or right fielder Andre Ethier to add more of a veteran presence to a lineup that ranks 11th in the National League in runs per game. The eventual returns of shortstop Rafael Furcal and even center fielder Andruw Jones should help the offense, but Furcal is expected to be out three more weeks, with the oft-injured Nomar Garciaparra replacing him at short. If the Dodgers ever get healthy -- if -- the addition of a proven slugger could be the difference in their quest to overtake the Diamondbacks in the NL West. A two- or three-month rental such as Reds left fielder Adam Dunn — defensively challenged and expensive at $13 million — would not be a sufficient return for a young player such as Kemp, Loney or Ethier. But if the Dodgers were creative, they could make a variety of deals work. Bay is the most attainable of the hitters under contract beyond this season. He is not yet 30, ranks 12th in the NL in on-base/slugging percentage and qualifies as a bargain at $5.75 million this season and $7.5 million in '09. Even so, the Dodgers probably would require the Pirates to expand the deal rather than trade Kemp for Bay straight-up — and the Pirates have pitching to spare.Ordonez, 34, is a more problematic pursuit, in part because the Tigers will not give up on their season easily after spending $137.6 million on payroll. What's more, Ordonez possesses limited no-trade protection, and his $18 million option for 2010 and $15 million option for '11 will become guaranteed if he reaches certain thresholds in '08 and '09. The Tigers probably would need to contribute money and additional players to complete a deal for Kemp. Then there is Holliday, who finished second in the National League Most Valuable Player voting last season. At 28, he is younger than Ordonez and more accomplished than Bay — though, like many Rockies hitters, he performs much better at Coors Field than he does on the road. To trade Holliday, who is signed for $9.5 million this season and $13.5 million next season, the Rockies would want considerably more than Kemp. The Dodgers might resist adding prospects to a trade that would benefit a division rival long-term. Then again, they've got the resources to keep Holliday beyond 2009. If the Dodgers are patient, Kemp might prove more productive than Bay, Ordonez or even Holliday. But this is a team that has won only one postseason game in the past 20 years. Colletti needs to win. Manager Joe Torre wants to win. And Matt Kemp is one powerful chip.</div> I swear to god, that is by far the stupidest thing the Dodgers can do, Trade Kemp for Maggs? Haha, I'm not sure though Ned would be stupid enough to do this. If anyone is to be traded its Eithier. Trading Loney or Kemp is the dumbest thing ever.
