- The Padres have up until Oct. 15 to select up to two minor leaguers from a list provided by the Dodgers. The more players they accept in the trade, the less cash they will have to send the Dodgers to cover a portion of the remainder of Greg Maddux's salary. GM Ned Colletti said the minor leaguers available were not on the 40-man roster.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, the way trades work is that the team assumes the major league contract of the player it traded for. So when the Dodgers traded for Maddux, they automatically get to pay the remainder of his contract. In this case, the Padres sent over cash considerations to cover a portion of that amount. Separately, the Padres are going to pick up to two minor leaguers from a list the Dodgers have provided. If say, a prospect gets injured during that time, the Padres can get cash considerations back instead of a player. All in all, the more players the Padres take, the less money they will contribute in the trade.

- Maddux was coy about an ESPN the Magazine story from earlier this year that included this anecdote:

But when Brad Penny and Maddux were teammates on the Dodgers, during the last two months of 2006, they had a conversation one day that led Penny to reach a stunning conclusion: This guy knows my stuff better than I do. It was eerie, really, how easily Maddux dissected Penny's repertoire and suggested ways to maximize it. Penny, figuring he'd take advantage of the situation, asked Maddux to call a game for him against the Cubs. And so, on the night of Sept. 13, Penny glanced into the dugout before every delivery and found Maddux, who signaled the next pitch by looking toward different parts of the ballpark. Penny threw seven scoreless innings with no walks and beat the Cubs 6-0. "Maddux probably won't tell you that story," Penny says.

"Nothing," said Maddux of what he remembered from the game. I don't remember really anything about it. I don't remember." Maddux shrugged and displayed only a hint of a grin. Penny when asked about the story indicated it was an urban legend while Russell Martin recalled catching one or two innings for Penny while taking orders from Maddux.

- Maddux got his old No. 36 back, with the number being stripped from backup catcher Danny Ardoin, who still introduced himself to Maddux as if he were the pope.

- Maddux will start Friday, and Clayton Kershaw will have his next start pushed back to Saturday.

- To make room for Maddux, Eric Stults was optioned to Class AAA Las Vegas without throwing a pitch and Scott Proctor was transferred to the 60-day disabled list.

- Colletti indicated that one reason for making the deal was to possibly the facilitate the move of one of the starters to the bullpen, and Penny or Kershaw could be that starter.

- Colletti said he expected James McDonald to be promoted at some point.

2 Comments

El Lay Dave on August 19, 2008 7:19 PM said:

Diamond - surely you mean the more players the Padres take, the MORE money they have to send?

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El Lay Dave on August 20, 2008 12:01 PM said:

Diamond,

Not to beat this to death, but I think your update is still incorrect. For example:

Scenario 1 - Padres send $1.3M. Padres take two prospects. Deal done.

Scenario 2 - Padres send $1.3M. Padres take one prospect and $0.7M back. Net cash from SD to LA is $0.6M.

In 1, Padres contribute more money, they get more players. In 2, Padres contribute less money, they get less player.

(Or simply: why would the Padres ever get more for less?)

Bottom line: Frank McCourt is selling off the middle layer of the farm (to some extent Meloan, Santana, LaRoche and Morris all apply) to raise capital to finance his stretch drive.

Respectfully,
Dave.

P.S. Love the blog and read it religiously.

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