1:50pm: The Dodgers have announced the trade.
1:06pm: The Dodgers are sending minor league right-hander Andrew Istler to the Nationals in return, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (via Twitter).
12:54pm: The Dodgers and Nationals have agreed to a trade that’ll send right-hander Ryan Madson from D.C. to L.A., reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). Madson was placed on revocable waivers earlier this week, per the Washington Post’s Jorge Castillo. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com had previously reported that the Dodgers placed a claim on the veteran setup man.
Though the Nats could have simply let Madson go to the Dodgers and shed the remainder of his $7.5MM salary, Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets the Dodgers will indeed send a prospect to Washington in return for the right-hander. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds that the Dodgers are taking on all of the $1.24MM remaining on the 38-year-old Madson’s contract. He’s a free agent at season’s end, so Madson will be a rental piece for the Dodgers as they strive for a postseason berth in the competitive NL West.
Madson was only recently activated from the disabled list after missing time with a nerve issue in his back. He has a strong big league track record and has generally been a reliable late-inning arm in recent seasons since returning from Tommy John surgery in 2015, but he’s struggled with the Nats so far this season. Through 44 1/3 innings this year, Madson has posted an unsightly 5.28 ERA, though he’s averaged a healthy 95.8 mph on his heater and is still missing bats (8.3 K/9, 12.4 percent swinging-strike rate).
The Dodgers’ bullpen has been struggling to near unthinkable levels in the month of August, as manager Dave Roberts tried to use virtually every arm at his disposal in late-inning situations with star closer Kenley Jansen on the disabled list. The Dodger ’pen blew leads in seven straight games at one point, and when the team welcomed Jansen back from the DL, he too struggled to uncharacteristic levels. Jansen has allowed runs in each of his four appearances since returning from a DL stint due to an irregular heartbeat. With the bullpen reeling, Madson and this weekend’s slate of September call-ups will give Roberts some additional options to mix and match as he tries to keep his club in the race.
As for Istler, he wasn’t considered to be among the Dodgers’ top prospects but has enjoyed a solid season across three minor league levels. A 23rd-round pick in 2015, Istler opened the 2018 season at Class-A Advanced but has steadily risen through the ranks to Triple-A. He’s pitched to a combined 2.37 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a roughly 43 percent ground-ball rate through 79 2/3 innings. Istler, who has allowed just two homers on the season, could conceivably give the Nats a bullpen option as soon as next season given his 2018 ascension.
Now time to just hope its 2015-17 Madson and not this years version
This is my fear. Hopefully coming to a strong contender, and the fact that its the last month of a contract year will push him to perform.
He hasn’t looked the same. The coming to a contender comment, doesn’t really play. When he was healthy and pitching, the Nats were considered a contender and that didn’t boost his performance. Either way, you can’t fault the Dodgers for taking a chance. If he magically rounds back into form, it’s a great addition. If he doesn’t, they’re only out some cash and a LL prospect.
I agree, few players who reach the majors (let alone, stick there) need any incentive to perform at their highest possible level. The question is much more about what’s possible, especially for 38 year old who may be a shadow of his former self.
At the same time he can’t really be that much worse than some options we have.
Geez…another retread!!
Hope they didn’t give up much more than a warm body, though they might have, if a salary offset was involved.
It says the Dodgers are paying all remaining salary and giving up a prospect.
Gave up a 25 year old in A ball. So nothing really
That’s misleading… he started the year in A+ but has actually spent the bulk of the season in AA and AAA. It looks like he hasn’t had a terrible season in AA either.. but he is by no means a “prospect”
It took him 4 years to make it to AA
Yeah he is in the upper levels now i see. But still he’s way too old to be considered any kind of a prospect
Yes I see that detail is up now. Not sure why Istler hasn’t broken through but he sure wasn’t on many radar screens, so that qualifies as a warm body deal.
Now we get to the question of whether Madson can bounce back.
No he’s definitely more than a warm body. He was a driveline guy that experienced jumps within the last two years. He’s an interesting prospect. With all that said he was going to be a rule 5 guy this offseason so doesn’t mean much for the Dodgers. And the question again for Madson is whether he’s healthy.
Now we get to debate what I mean by a warm body. To me this is someone not on anyone’s top 100 prospects list.
It’s an interesting prospect. Not saying that he’s a major prospect, but he’s definitely a guy whose going to see the majors. To me a warm body signifies just a guy that might get to AAA, and is simply just an org depth piece. When you say warm body I think of Joe Broussard. I think we’ve seen guys reinvent themselves and change trajectory of their careers with jumps they’ve made using Driveline. Not that I agree with the totality of DL. I know it’s semantics, but feel this trade is good for both sides. Dodgers get a X factor type arm with experience if healthy and the Nats get a good albeit not amazing prospect who could turn in a solid mid relief career.
When you use the term you can have it mean what you want it to mean. It isn’t a technical concept, just a figure of speech.
On the trade, it could end up being good for both teams, one team, or neither team, depending on things that haven’t happened yet and can’t be accurately predicted.
Was the Washington Post writer’s name suppose to link to baseball-reference?
To the stats for Jorge Castillo, a pitcher in the Mexican League, no less! Nice catch, and an assist!
Bote
I’d rather have mark madsen.
Hey not everyday you hear a Mark Madsen reference lol. I was just talking about him to a buddy the other day. Funny, wonder what that guy is doing for a living now days.
Most likely a middle school teacher in the middle of nowhere, that just happens to have 3 championship rings from a basketball team in Los Angeles. Go figure. Hahaha
He’s actually been a Lakers assistant coach for 5 years or so now… and I think he was only on two of the Kobe/Shaq championship Laker teams.
I like it. He’s still throwing hard, and got most of the damage against him in a couple 6 run innings. Kenley Jansen has one rough stretch and people start discounting him. He’s still one of the best. Fields comes back off the DL today too. He’s been sorely missed. Floro has stepped up, and don’t look now but Baez is on a roll. Don’t know about Cingrani, but I think he’s still due back too. Then you have Maeda and Stripling, and suddenly the pen picture doesn’t look too bad. Should be interesting to see how it all shapes up over the last month.
Yeah good move by LAD, really only the couple 4-6 run innings that gives him some unsightly #s.
Joey Votto needs to kick his @$$ #Madson-is-a-coward
This all goes for not, of we don’t make the playoffs.
Gotta start by winning the divisional games that matter!