SoMnFan
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Speaking of Kemp ... Our boy Torii helps another one.
TORII HUNTER WAS with Kemp when he got that call from Friedman. They'd been friends for years in an older brother/younger brother kind of way. Over the course of his 19-year career, Hunter had made a point of reaching out to dozens of younger players, offering advice and mentorship, as veterans such as Twins legend Kirby Puckett had done for him when he first made it to the big leagues.
But Kemp wasn't a kid trying to find his way around the big leagues anymore. He was a veteran confronting his own baseball mortality. "It's an ego thing," Kemp says. "Getting older gets a little humbling."
Hunter, two years into retirement, knew a little something about that part too. "I was like 29 when I had to start really getting into my body," Hunter says. "I just took control, and it paid off, because I played until I was 40. And I could've played two more years after that; it's just my mind left."
Hunter had been encouraging Kemp to move to Texas and train with him full time for years. He'd get him eating right and training in a way he'd never done before. Kemp would come for a few weeks each offseason, but after the way his body felt after last season -- derailed by yet another hamstring injury, which turned him into one of the worst defensive outfielders in the game -- he knew he needed to make a deeper commitment.
Soda and processed food were out. His meals would be prepared by Hunter's longtime private chef, Kevin Ashade. He changed his workouts to focus more on flexibility, endurance and weight loss rather than strength training. His nightlife, once the fascination of tabloids and paparazzi when he was dating Rihanna, had turned into game nights and barbecue with Hunter and his wife.
"He renovated himself and built himself back up," Hunter says. "He's the same body, the same building, but he renovated. The inside is different."
Kemp had already lost 20 pounds by the time Friedman called in mid-December, and he intended to lose at least 20 more before spring training. (Hunter proudly says Kemp eventually lost 52 pounds. Kemp was more modest, saying simply that he lost "enough.") He thought about telling Friedman all of that on that phone call. About how much he'd come to appreciate being a Dodger and how much he wanted to be back. About how hard it was to watch his former teammates go to the World Series last year after yet another wasted year on a non-contender. These three seasons away had tested his spirit, but he'd made a choice in the offseason to find his love for the game again and was doing everything he could to remake himself from the inside out.
But this was literally the second time he'd ever spoken to the guy, and both had been trade calls like this. He had no idea whether he would even listen.
And more than that, Kemp knew that talk was cheap when it came to changing his reputation. The only thing he could do was swallow his pride and show the Dodgers how much he'd changed.
"What can you do?" Hunter asked him. "Just trust the process that you're going through.
"You're a new person, so just go do your thing. Help the other guys. Show them that you have that wisdom to give back. I think every organization needs a player that has great character, wisdom, that's been through stuff.
"Show them what you can do whenever you get the chance."
Torii is a great dude.
My boys and I were talking all-time favorite Twins the other day, and I had a real hard time not putting him in my Top Five.
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