Matt Kemp’s agent fires back at Ned Colletti

Ned Colletti called out Matt Kemp the other day. Yesterday Dave Stewart, who (a) is Matt Kemp’s agent; and (b) is one of the more intimidating dudes to have played the game in recent history, fired back:

“This kind of thing in all the years I’ve been in baseball has never happened with any general manager on any team I’ve ever played on where you single out a player and you hold him accountable for the outcome of what 24 other players are doing as well. There are 25 players on a team.”

Stewart also made a point to mention that Kemp is up for arbitration in the near future and within a couple of years of free agency. Which, given the context, strikes me as a warning to Colletti that if things keep up the way they are and his client keeps getting called out, Stewart and Kemp may not be in a dealing mood.

Which is a problem. Not as big a problem as the lousy signal it sends to every other player currently on or ever considering joining the Dodgers while Ned Colletti is on the job (i.e. we’ll throw you under the bus is we have to) but a problem all the same.