VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) -Jeff Kent greeted several teammates, including Matt Kemp, with a warm handshake in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ clubhouse Wednesday upon his arrival for spring training.
Then, baseball’s all-time leading home run hitter among second basemen made clear without being specific that any friction surfacing in the clubhouse late last season between youngsters and veterans was no longer an issue.
The 23-year-old Kemp had previously said much the same thing, only he was more direct.
“We’re cool. I saw him at the caravan,” Kemp said, referring to a media tour taken by some of the Dodgers in the Los Angeles area earlier this month. “That was last year, that was old stuff. I didn’t think it was that big a deal.
“We’re a family. You have family arguments. One day, you fight, the next day, you go out to dinner. I’m sure Jeff has my back just like I have his back when we go out on the field. There are no problems on this team at all.”
Kent, who turns 40 next month, has said repeatedly since joining the Dodgers three years ago his main motivation is to win a World Series ring. He came close in 2002, when his San Francisco Giants lost to the Angels in his only series appearance.
Kent and the Dodgers had high hopes last season, but the team lost 11 of its final 14 games to fall out of contention, and the veteran second baseman expressed dismay and frustration during the slide.
“We have some good kids, so don’t get me wrong,” he said. “But it’s hard to translate experience, and I don’t know why they don’t get it. It’s just a lot of things. It’s professionalism, it’s knowing how to manufacture runs, it’s knowing how to keep your emotions in it.”
When asked Wednesday about where things stood, Kent replied: “My frustrations don’t lie with anybody. They lie with wins and losses. You don’t win, and if anybody’s not frustrated, they shouldn’t be playing this game. There are no frustrations with players, there are no frustrations with managers. The fact that you don’t win games, there lies the frustration. You hope to build on your mistakes as a player and as an organization.”
Kemp said he thought he understood how Kent felt last September.
“There’s a lot of pressure being up here,” Kemp said. “You’ve got to play good, especially if you’re younger. If I was coming down to the end and hadn’t won a World Series ring, I’d be frustrated, too. We’re going to try out best to get him that ring. I want one, too.
“I’m kind of past that now, feeling the pressure to stay up here. It doesn’t work at all. We’ve got a good squad, old and young. You need the older guys to help the younger guys. I want the older guys to show me the way.”
There was uncertainty for a while, at least publicly, whether Kent was going to return for a 17th big-league season or end what would seem to be a Hall of Fame career with five All-Star appearances, a .290 batting average, 537 doubles, 365 homers and 1,459 RBIs. He has the 27th-most doubles and 52nd most RBIs in baseball history, and is tied for 65th in home runs.
He said he had his family’s support, and the Dodgers’ offseason moves made his decision easier.
“You go into the offseason optimistic, and then you end up sitting back and watching,” Kent said. “They bring in Joe Torre (as manager), and that’s a big addition. Then, you watch some player moves that have been made to bolster the team, and you can’t help but get excited.”
And yet, Kent said, he had mixed feelings before the Dodgers’ first full-squad workout of the spring.
“I just left my family that I have been with for four months and I won’t see them for probably three weeks, so today is not such a great day,” he said, referring to his wife, Dana, and the couple’s four children. “But putting my uniform on and getting my socks and giving blood just puts me back into a professional mode.
“No doubt when I am out there running around the bases, the excitement will come back. There is a passion to play this game. I love to play this game, and I don’t make excuses. I will be happy to be here.”
Kent hit .302 with 20 homers and 79 RBIs in 136 games last season.
When asked what he thought about this year’s Dodgers, Kent replied: “I don’t know yet. I’ve just been reading everything on the Internet and in the magazines, but you can’t believe half of everything you read, so I have to see for myself.”
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