The Virgin Islander was part of a classic MLB trade deadline move where a contending team, his Los Angeles Dodgers, gave up Cotton and other prospects to the Oakland Athletics for some established major league veterans. However, he should be able to boost the rotation that is down to three healthy starters after Bud Norris suffered an injury on Sunday.
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Although they came at a price, the Dodgers picked up crucial pieces for their postseason run. Hill has spent most of the last decade working out of the bullpen and the 76 innings he’s thrown this year are the most for him since 2007.
The A’s had been talking about a contract extension with Reddick off-and-on since spring training, but the outfielder wanted a four-year deal and the club wasn’t willing to go past three years.
Oakland will receive multiple prospects in return. While Hill is on the Dodgers list, the talks with the Rays seem to have progressed the furthest. He hasn’t faced a batter in a game since July 7th. The problem for the A’s is the injury subtracting from Hill’s value. The Athletics have not been a pantheon of offensive brilliance over the past several years and if the Dodgers are doing anything this season they are hitting. The Dodgers are obviously the better fit as they would like to move on from Yasiel Puig in right field and are hoping to add Reddick or a similarly talented player.
Once the New York Mets acquired RBI leader Jay Bruce from the Cincinnati Reds, the Dodgers turned their attention to Reddick to provide more power.
The 27-year-old Smith is 1-3 with a 3.68 ERA this season in 27 games and 22 innings.
Up in Toronto I’m not sure this trade makes as much sense although we’ve seen the Blue Jays favor depth over logic plenty of times. The addition of Josh Reddick without trading away a Dodger outfielder makes the playing time situation a little tricky. Holmes was the Dodgers first round selection in the 2014 draft out of Conway High School in SC and was rated as the Dodgers sixth best prospect by Baseball America entering the season.
Holmes is 8-4 with a 4.02 ERA with the Class-A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga this season. He could have a bright future with the Athletics.
It looks like a quality package for an Oakland organization that will try to continue developing them into impact major league arms.
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The deal was announced two hours before the deadline for completing trades without waivers. He has dominated in AA and AAA this season, with a 2.25 ERA between the two levels. He could end up in Oakland’s rotation if Hahn struggles. A dominant force in AA (2.30 ERA in 2015), Cotton’s ERA in AAA ballooned 5.42.
