Dodgers acquire Maddux from Padres

Jon Heyman, SI.com

The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-acquired Cooperstown-bound righthander Greg Maddux in a trade with the Padres, SI.com has confirmed.

This marks the second time Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has acquired Maddux in a mid-season trade. In 2006, Maddux went 6-3 after going to the Dodgers and helped lead them into the playoffs. Colletti is hoping for similar results this time around.

Maddux, 6-9 with a 3.99 ERA for the last-place Padres, cleared waivers earlier in the month. The San Diego resident, who also has kept a home up the coast in Dana Point, about 60 miles southwest of Dodger Stadium, approved a trade only to Los Angeles. The lifetime 353-game winner bolsters a rotation that just lost Brad Penny to the disabled list last week.

The Dodgers made a major move to improve the offense minutes before the July 31 trade deadline when they acquired Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox. Like Maddux, Ramirez will wind up in Cooperstown someday.

This year, Los Angeles and San Diego discussed a deal for Maddux before the July 31 deadline, but talks fell through. "I would say nothing ever got real close," Padres general manager Kevin Towers said then. "We let it be known with the Dodgers, that was the one ballclub he had interest in going to, that any deal we were going to do was going to be the best baseball deal we could do and it wasn't going to be a financial deal to try to move dollars. We just weren't happy with the prospect we would be getting back, and we chose to hold onto him."

Now in his 23rd major league season, Maddux has won a record 17 Gold Gloves. He reached 13 wins last year for the 20th consecutive season, passing Cy Young for the major league record. Maddux is ninth on baseball's career wins list, one behind Roger Clemens, and 10th in strikeouts with 3,353.

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks have been basically in a dead heat in their battle for the NL West division crown. The Los Angeles Times first reported that Maddux was headed back to Los Angeles on Monday night.

The Associated Press also contributed to this report.