Dodgers Set to Acquire Greg Maddux

The Dodgers have reached a tentative deal to acquire Greg Maddux from the Padres for two players to be named later.  Maddux will replace the oft-injured and perpetually out of shape Brad Penny in the Dodgers rotation.

Dodgers Looking at Greg Maddux

The cheap-ass Padres want to trade Greg Maddux so they can dump the almost $3 million that they owe him the rest of the year.  The cheap-ass Dodgers (the same Dodgers who normally line up to throw hundreds of millions of Dodgers at injury risks) are interested in Maddux (and the Dodgers are the only team to which Maddux will approve a trade), but want the Padres to pay almost $2.5 million of his salary.  So basically the Dodgers want Maddux for free.  And why shouldn't they?  They got the Indians to pay all of Casey Blake's salary and the Red Sox to pay almost all of Manny Ramirez's (who by the way is awesome) salary, so it may surprise some that the Dodgers are willing to pay Maddux even $500,000.

The amusement of a potential Maddux deal does not end there.  August is usually the month for Ned Colletti to admit he screwed up at the trade deadline and didn't get what he needed (the Manny Ramirez defense fails miserably because he had nothing to do with that deal).  Last August, Colletti claimed Tijuana native Esteban Loaiza from the A's and assumed $8 million in guaranteed salary.  Loaiza rewarded Colletti's foresight by posting an 8.34 ERA.  That brilliant move came a mere 5 days after Colletti signed David Wells, who posted a 5.12 ERA the rest of the year.  Maddux is having a decent year in terms of  his 4.17 ERA (5-8 record), but it makes metaphysical sense that once he dons a Dodgers uniform, his ERA will balloon to above 6 . 

Also, Maddux is no fun unless Chipper Jones is there for him to call Larry.