Dodgers Acquire Casey Sadler; Transfer Rich Hill to 60 Day IL

The Dodgers made a minor trade on Wednesday acquiring Casey Sadler from the Tampa Bay Rays.  They also moved Rich Hill to the 60 day IL.

The Dodgers have acquired relief help.  It is not the big move that fans are waiting on prior to the July 31st trade deadline but it is another under the radar reliever trade.  In the deal, the Dodgers sent Nathan Witt to the Rays.  This type of trade has become Andrew Friedman’s signature with others being Dylan Floro and Tony Cingrani.

Sadler was recently designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays in a move that was a bit surprising.  This season, Sadler has been effective for the Rays in nineteen plus innings posting an ERA of 1.86 and a WHIP of 1.09.  Casey has held the opposition to a .219 average this season for Tampa Bay.

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Casey Sadler was originally a draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 2010.  He was a 25th round draft pick and the soon to be 29-year-old righty has spent time with the Pirates and Rays with the bulk of the time coming in Pittsburgh from 2014 to 2018.  Sadler is another sinkerball type reliever who has averaged 93.1 MPH on his sinker this year.

In terms of stuff, Sadler rarely throws his four-seam fastball and features a sinker, cutter, and a hard curveball.  He also has a changeup that is also rarely thrown although he does use it more than his four seamer.  Most of what Casey Sadler throws will have movement whether its arm side run or his other pitches that tilt the opposite direction.

The Dodgers do not have to put Casey on their active roster as he does have one more option remaining this season.  After dipping into the OKC Dodger relief depth over the last few weeks, this could be a move for more depth in Triple-A.  The Dodgers did transfer Rich Hill to the sixty-day IL to make room on the forty man roster for Sadler.

Moving Hill to the sixty-day IL doesn’t change anything with his recovery as he is not expected to return until August at the earliest.  This was strictly a procedural move to add a player onto the forty man roster without designating anyone else for assignment.