Matt Kemp on Ryan Braun: ‘A good dude, that’s my homie’

Should Ryan Braun surrender his NL MVP award to Matt Kemp in light of the report that the Milwaukee Brewers star flunked a drug test? It's a debate that has seen more than its fair share of opining. Eight of 10 Braun voters told Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times they'd switch their vote if given the chance. Legendary scribe Hal McCoy said he wanted his ballot back. Even Kemp's agent — former pitcher Dave Stewart — weighed in.

The only person not taking a hard-line stance, it seemed, was Kemp himself. The Los Angeles Dodgers star even remained silent until he was tracked down by a TMZ camera jockey at what looks like a routine mall run to satisfy an Orange Julius hankering:

Kemp basically responded the way you or I would if a random person with a video camera rushed up to us in public. He stayed pretty non-committal, but did offer that he thinks the official process should play out before a final judgment is made on the man who finished ahead of him in the voting.

"Nobody's proven anything, man" Kemp said. "We don't know anything."

Kemp called Braun a "good dude" and also asserted "that's my homie."

Perhaps the brotherhood of upper-echelon talent in Major League Baseball really compels him to say that, but I'm still very interested in knowing what really lies in his heart. Considering that Kemp said he was going to use the MVP snub as motivation to post a "monster" 2012 season, I can't believe he doesn't feel at least a little bit slighted.



(yahoosports.com)