Jeff Kent's Career in a Nutshell

Jeff had quite a career and bounced around early on. He would have won a world series in his rookie year with the Blue Jays but he was traded to the Mets midseason for David Cone in 1992.
After 3 and a half tough years with the media in New York, Jeff was again traded midseason, this time to Cleveland in a 4-player deal for Carlos Baerga in 1996. A few months later he was traded to the Giants for fan-favorite Matt Williams.

At 29, Jeff was in his prime. Finally settled and playing full-time. He posted career-highs with 29 HR and 112 RBI in his 1st year in SF. And at 30, his career really took off. Winning the MVP award in 2000 and losing to the Angels in the World Series in 2002.

Kent would eventually wear out his welcome in the bay area. Mostly because of the famous broken wrist incident...initially claiming he broke his wrist while washing his truck. Soon after he declared he violated his contract and suffered the injury while wrecking his dirt bike.

Jeff headed to Houston on a 2-year deal in 2003. Had some pretty big playoff moments but in the end came up short of his quest for a world series title.

In 2004, former Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta surprised a lot of people when he signed a 37-year old Kent to a 3-year contract. Jeff cried with glee to reunite with his parents in LA.

In 2005, we all learned that Jeff Kent and Milton Bradley weren't the best mix of people in the same clubhouse. All in all, Jeff proved to be a solid contributor in his time with the Dodgers. In 4 seasons he reached the playoffs twice. Jeff was involved in one of the worst plays in Dodger postseason history in his 1st playoff game as a Dodger. With Jeff Kent at 2nd base and JD Drew at 1st base in the top of the 1st in Game 1 of the 2006 NLDS....Russell Martin double to right field. Mets rightfielder (former Dodger) Shawn Green played the carom perfectly and quickly threw the ball into 2nd basemen (former Dodger) Jose Valentin who relayed to catcher (former Dodger) Paul Lo Duca in time to get Jeff Kent AND JD Drew at the plate. The Mets went on to sweep the series.

Jeff Kent never won a world series but he experienced just about everything else. Career highlights:

1. Won an MVP award
2. 5-Time All-Star
3. 4-Time Silver Slugger
4. Hit for the cycle in 1999
5. A part of 3 blockbuster trades

My final Jeff Kent note is that he has to be the only cowboy to have graduated from Berkeley in the last 30 years.

Jeff Kent will be in the Hall-of-Fame. I wouldn't be surprised if the baseball writers kept him from getting in on the 1st ballot though. He never had much of a relationship with the media and baseball writers have been known for holding grudges.