Padres trade Kemp to Braves for Olivera

Matt Kemp’s Padres career, which began with the hope of a new era, ended with a surprising exchange on Saturday. The Padres traded the right fielder and cash to the Atlanta Braves for infielder-outfielder Hector Olivera, who is currently serving an 82-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.

The Padres, according to sources, will send the Braves $10.5 million for an approximate total savings of $32 million. Kemp is owed roughly $72 million through 2019, while Olivera is due around $30 million through 2020. The $10.5 million in the deal is from the $32 million the Padres received from the Los Angeles Dodgers when they acquired Kemp two winters ago.

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Matt Kemp traded to Braves

“Really what the deal stems to for us is, it’s ... definitely a lot of flexibility to a point financially with the Braves where we felt like we can use that money down the road, re-allocate it to our big-league club, reallocate it potentially to the amateur market,” Padres General Manager A.J. Preller said.

Olivera’s suspension is up after Monday. The 31-year-old was arrested April 13 and charged with one count of misdemeanor assault and battery for allegedly beating a woman at the Braves’ team hotel in Arlington, Va. That case remains pending.

Preller and other Padres officials said they would not comment on Olivera’s status until he is reinstated. All indications, however, are that Olivera will never play a game for the Padres. It’s possible they will simply release him, rather than go through the process of designating him for assignment.

Saturday’s trade amounts to a swap of bad contracts that allows the Padres to shed salary while creating more playing time for their younger outfielders. A source said the Padres did not have immediate plans to promote top prospects Manuel Margot and Hunter Renfroe from Triple-A El Paso, though Kemp’s departure certainly paves the way for 2017.

“I think we’ll evaluate that as we go, kind of figure out whether they’re going to be guys for this year,” Preller said. “They’re going to kind of dictate that to us, and we’ll get a sense from the next couple weeks exactly at what point in time we’re going to bring them up to the big leagues.”

While center fielder Travis Jankowski and left fielder Alex Dickerson will continue receiving regular playing time, Jabari Blash will be recalled from El Paso to start Sunday’s game against Cincinnati. Blash, a Rule 5 player, struggled early this season amid sporadic playing time and was designated for assignment in May. The Padres subsequently worked out a trade with Seattle, Blash’s previous organization, in order to keep him in the organization.

“When we got him, we wanted to find a window of opportunity to get him on the baseball field here,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “We liked his power-patience combination. This is his window of opportunity to capitalize, and for some guys, the window cracks just for a little while. He’s got an opportunity to run with it and turn himself into a major league right fielder.”

Amid their latest losing season, the Padres have been this summer’s most aggressive sellers, trading major leaguers James Shields, Fernando Rodney, Drew Pomeranz, Melvin Upton Jr., Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea and, now, Kemp. They agreed to eat money in the deals that shipped out Shields, Upton, Cashner, Rea and Kemp — and the final sum could approach the $60 million range.

As of Saturday night, the Padres were still pushing to move catcher Derek Norris by Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, sources said.

Meantime, the organization has spent a little more than $60 million since the 2016-17 international signing period opened, and sources indicated they were not finished.

Kemp, 31, proved an ill fit for what became a full-fledged rebuild. After his arrival from Los Angeles, the one-time MVP candidate hit .264 with a .301 on-base percentage and 46 home runs in 254 games. He already has 23 home runs this season, matching his total in 2015, but he is now considered a below-average defender and his on-base percentage is down to .285.

“Obviously, there was a lot of excitement when we added him to the organization,” Preller said. “He’s a presence in the middle of anyone’s lineup. Four months into the year here, close to the All-Star break, and you’re looking at a guy with 20-plus bombs, a guy that drives in runs. But ultimately, where we’re going, what we’re trying to do, I think we’re looking to create some opportunity for some guys that have already gotten called up and some guys that are still down in Triple-A that are going to get more opportunity.”

Preller said he had not had much trade discussions involving Kemp until the Braves contacted him this week, and “the deal really just came about in the last day-and-a-half or so. ... Our focus was more on some of the other players that we have moved here in the last couple weeks.”

News that the Padres and Braves were discussing a trade surfaced Saturday afternoon. Kemp was scratched from Saturday night’s lineup, spent five innings in the home dugout and, after the trade was made official, hugged teammates and coaches before making his exit.

“He’s a big personality, he’s got a lot of life. You look at our lineup, and it was nice to have him in the middle of it as a fixture,” Green said. “The guy wanted to play every single day, still wants to play every single day. When we scratched him today, I said ‘this is the way I can get you out of the lineup,’ just joking with him, how much he wants to be on the field every single day. He’ll be missed, wish him well and we’ll continue our build here.”

The Padres once had significant interest in Olivera, who wound up signing a six-year, $62.5 million deal with the Dodgers in March 2015. Olivera never appeared in a big-league game for Los Angeles, however, and he was dealt to the Braves as part of a three-team trade exactly a year ago. The Dodgers absorbed Olivera’s $28 million signing bonus and the first year of his salary.

Olivera’s stock fell further in Atlanta. He hit .245 with two home runs over parts of two seasons before being suspended earlier this year.

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