The Reds are moving on from their experiment with Matt Kemp as they announced the outfielder's release Saturday.
"After giving it time to develop, we didn't see Matt fitting in," Reds president Dick Williams said (per cincinnati.com). "We wanted to give him the opportunity to help another team."
The #Reds have released OF Matt Kemp.
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 4, 2019
Kemp was on the 10-day injured list with a broken rib and hadn't played since April 21.
But despite his injury, he had limited success with the squad batting .200 with one home run and five RBIs in 60 at-bats with the team.
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Even more disheartening for Reds fans, Kemp had posted a .210 on-base percentage in 62 plate appearances while tallying a negative-0.9 WAR in his limited time with Cincinnati.
The Reds acquired Kemp along with Yasiel Puig and Alex Wood in a trade with the Dodgers, which sent pitcher Homer Bailey and two prospects to Los Angeles in the offseason.
Kemp is in the final season of his eight-year, $160 million deal he signed with the Dodgers in 2012. Cincinnati will be on the hook for whatever remains of the $21.75 million he is owed for the rest of 2019.
But in the trade with the Dodgers, Cincinnati was able to unload the remaining $22.5 million in the final year of Bailey's contract, so all in all, the Reds came out even on the deal with Kemp.
The team would have preferred if Kemp had produced and become a big bat in the middle of their lineup, but in the end, the Reds have moved on. Now the age of Nick Senzel can begin as the team's featured star.
Senzel made his MLB debut on Friday going 1 for 5 while starting in the outfield.