“I’ve never floated his name,” General Manager Ned Colletti said about Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp. “He’s a gifted, five-tool player. He’s getting better and better. He’s had a tough couple of months. It’s a baseball career. It’s not a baseball two months.

“I have no intention of moving him.”

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says the Dodgers need a pitcher “or three”, but by trading Kemp, it would “blow a huge hole in an outfield already thinned by injuries to Manny Ramirez and Reed Johnson.”

There’s been times this season when Colletti was not too happy. In late April, the GM threw Kemp under the bus when the Dodgers were performing poorly. He said, “the baserunning’s below average. The defense is below average. Why is it? Because he got a new deal? I can’t tell you.”

Colletti added, “some guys, I guess, think that they’re better than they are. They think the opposition’s just going to roll over and get beat by them. That obviously doesn’t happen.”

Kemp, 25, is on pace to hit 29 home runs, steal 27 bases, score 106 runs and drive in 94.

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5. Los Angeles Dodgers Rumors: Long term deal for Kemp?