Death, taxes, Matt Kemp suffering from ailments:
Stewart said he doesn’t think Kemp will be ready for 3/22 opener in Australia. “If the season opened April 1, I think Matt would be ready.”
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 21, 2014
On the one hand, sure, an early start for the Dodgers due to the Australia trip and thus a short camp. On the other hand: when was the last time a veteran suffering from nagging ailments was actually ready to go when they say, well beforehand, they’d probably be ready to go? In light of history alone I’d be worried about that April 1 date.
Kemp underwent shoulder and ankle surgeries in October and is currently running and swinging at about 60 percent and “getting close” to feeling like himself. But as Gandhi famously said: Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.