The Dodgers have officially acquired Greg Maddux for two players to be named later, we'll be paying at least some of Maddux's salary, but it isn't reported how much.
At this point in his career, Maddux is good for one thing: he's going to let the other team put the ball in play. Maddux has astoundingly low strikeout (4.70/9) and walk rates (1.53/9) this year so the ball will be going behind Maddux a lot this year. If you're the A's, this is probably a good thing. If you look over your left shoulder and you see Nomar, Casey Blake, and Manny, not so much. Maddux is still a ground ball pitcher (1.99 ground ball to fly ball rate) so the weakest part of our defense is going to be getting the most chances.
There's also a very good chance that Maddux's home run rate will increase when he leaves Petco, but Maddux has actually allowed more home runs at home than on the road with the Padres. I'm inclined to think this is a fluke, but there's a little ray of hope there.
At this point, Maddux is a minor upgrade over Jason Johnson or Eric Stults, but he probably isn't any better than James McDonald. Since I don't think we would ever hand McDonald the ball down the stretch anyway, you can really only judge this trade when we know who the two players to be named are. I doubt we're going to lose anyone important if we're sending the Padres two guys, but even then it can cause problems in the long run. There are lots of guys that you think you're never going to miss, and then you end up carrying Luis Maza and Tanyon Sturtze on the active roster. Let's hope that we're just tossing away some career minor leaguers.
Update>>The official trade is Maddux and cash considerations for two players to be named later or cash considerations.