Reports all over the place are claiming that the Los Angeles Dodgers Who Don't Go Anywhere Near Anaheim have once again acquired Greg Maddux for their stretch run. Maddux is, at this point, in the Harvey Haddix phase of his career; smarter people than I have argued about whether he's league-average or below league-average at this point, but what he does give you are innings and strikes.
When the Dodgers tried to get Maddux at the trade deadline, there was widespread rumbling that they insisted that the Padres pay all of his remaining salary in addition to taking what was in essence a pile of used sweat socks back. Wisely, the Padres said no to this, but with Brad Penny going down, one would hope that the Dodgers would be a little more flexible in what they're offering.
Mind you, this deal is weird on several levels already. Maddux essentially came out and said LA was the only team he'd accept a trade to, which not only tied San Diego's hands, but also stapled GM Kevin Towers' feet to the floor. But with that being said, the real question is what Towers will be able to extract from Ned "Snowmiser" Colletti and his fabled, Smaug-like hoard of prospects. The Andy LaRoche trade shows that Colletti's death grip on his farm system is loosening ever so slightly; either that, or farm director Logan White's lost a power struggle that we don't know about. But what is certain is that if the Dodgers give up a reasonable prospect for Maddux, and take less money as well, then Colletti's definitely desperate, definitely playing for this year, and probably playing for his job.
No comments:
Post a Comment