Jeff Kent: Batman Becomes Robin Again With Addition of Manny

Once upon a time Jeff Kent used to occupy the Robin role to Barry Bonds' Batman with the San Francisco Giants. It was a bit dysfunctional, erupting over in the famous fight between the two. Kent did win an MVP award, but was still widely seen as the number two guy on the team. Kent eventually went to Houston where he was again number two to the incumbent veterans Bagwell and Biggio. When he signed on with the dodgers, he finally was on a team where he was "the" guy. It wasn't apparent at first, but in time the media came to realize that Kent had the ear of the owners.
Perhaps that had a part in what played out in the dealing of troubled outfielder Milton Bradley. After their infamous on field argument, and the ensuing ugliness of Bradley being unable to keep his mouth shut to save not only his job, but what shreds of goodwill he had garnered in Los Angeles (despite some earlier bad behavior) after similar events transpired that caused him to be traded from Cleveland to the dodgers just a few seasons before.
So again, Jeff Kent is in a situation where he is the number two guy in terms of talent on a team. And again (as with Bonds but maybe not with Bradley), the more talented guy has wrinkles that really get to Kent. If Kent showed up Bradley in the middle of a game for not running hard enough on a Jeff Kent double, how is Kent going to handle Manny's lackadaisical attitude? How many ground balls not run out by Manny will it take to catch Kent's ire? Maybe he respects Manny despite him being Manny because of how much he's accomplished in the game. Maybe Kent pillories Manny just because of how much more he could accomplish given his talent. In this sense, Kent might be as unpredictable as Bradley is. While Bradley is in your face, Kent is passive-aggressive. He'll be silent and sullen for a long time and then suddenly blow up and show up his teammate on the field like he's their father. Manny's already been physical against a teammate.

All I know is it'll be pretty tough for Jeff Kent to play Robin instead of Batman again.