Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Trade Casey Sadler to Chicago Cubs for IF Clayton Daniel

The Dodgers have announced that they have traded right-handed relief pitcher Casey Sadler to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for infielder Clayton Daniel.

Sadler was designated for assignment this week to make room for the return of left-handed starting pitcher Alex Wood. Sadler was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays last season.

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The player the Dodgers acquired, infielder Clayton Daniel, is 24 years old and spent time with Low-A and Double-A in 2019. He is a bit old for the levels, but he enjoyed a decent season in the minor leagues. Daniel played 67 minor league games inside of the Chicago Cubs organization and posted a solid .305 batting average and actually walked more than he struck out, which is a good sign. On top of the solid batting average, he posted an elite 137 wRC+. He does not possess a ton of power, but he knows how to get on base, evident within his minor league numbers.

Sadler did not have a spot on the team in Los Angeles, but he will look to find a role with the Cubs in their bullpen. Sadler posted a 2.14 ERA in 2019 with the Dodgers and Rays, but his 4.38 FIP and 4.58 SIERA paint a better picture of where he truly is at as a pitcher.

Press Release

Here is the press release from the Dodgers regarding the deal:

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired infielder Clayton Daniel from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for right-handed pitcher Casey Sadler.

Daniel, 24, has been with the Cubs’ organization for two seasons, batting a combined .290 (127-for-438) with 72 runs scored and 36 RBI across four different minor league levels. Last season, the Alabama native split his time between Low-A South Bend and Double-A Tennessee, hitting a combined .305 (73-for-239) with 11 doubles, two homers and 21 RBI. He was originally drafted in the 31st round of the 2018 First Year Player Draft out of Jacksonville State University.

Sadler, 29, was designated from assignment on Wednesday after spending the majority of the 2019 season with the Dodgers. The Oklahoma native made 24 appearances (one start) with the Dodgers, posting a 4-0 record with a 2.33 ERA (7 ER/27.0 IP) and 20 strikeouts. He was originally acquired on July 3 from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for right-hander Nathan Witt. He has been in the Majors for parts of four seasons, going 5-1 with a 3.55 ERA (26 ER/66.0 IP) and 46 strikeouts in 42 games (two starts).

Daniel Preciado

My name is Daniel Preciado and I am 19 years old. I am a sophomore Sport Analytics major and Cognitive Science and Economics dual minor at Syracuse University. When I am not in New York, I live in Whittier, California --- not too far from Chavez Ravine. I am pretty old-school for being an analytics guy and I will always embrace debate. Also, Chase Utley did absolutely nothing wrong.

20 Comments

    1. PaulDodgerFan1965, I was wondering the specifics, position, if he was right/left/switch, how about which hand he throws with? The only right-handed batter that threw left-handed I can think of though was Rickey Henderson. Your thoughts on the cheaters Astros, Red Sox, Alex Cora, etc. I would just hope the WS championships won(by the Astros & Red Sox) would be vacated by MLB.

      1. I will post this here, Robin:
        Let me ask you all this…the very least the Commissioner, who is gutless should do is award those forfeited draft picks from the Astros to the Dodgers for both 2020 and 2021. What do ya think about this here?

    2. Hey finally a RH bat. Too bad he’s not big bat like we need. Maybe they should start drafting their own big RH bats instead of only drafting lefties

      1. Don, I couldn’t agree more or maybe as was suggested back in 1991, just eliminate the RH batter’s box… Correct, we need an impact RHB but perhaps Freidman and Co. don’t care enough. So we will be too LH in the lineup again in 2020. Notice how Giants signed another LH reliever and obviously it’s because Zaidi knows the Dodgers are very LH. IDK about you, Don but I honestly cannot say I am looking forward tho this year’s ST at all.

    3. Maybe so, but I hated to see them give up on Sadler who threw decently for the Dodgers. This other guy gives us nothing but trade bait. Is he better than Kike’ Hernandez or Chris Taylor? No, so is he another Jedd Gyrko? I doubt we will ever see him in a major league uniform whereas the Dodgers had other players they could have sent down and brought up later. This is another sabremetrics decision that makes little sense if team improvement is your goal…

  1. Natch, we jettison a reliever for a middle infielder that we really don’t need. I know the story implies that we didn’t need the reliever. But when in recent Dodger history have we not been at least one reliever short? On the other hand, I have decided not to worry anymore. According to the sages at MLB.com, we need to sit back and relax because the Dodger brain trust can sit back and make the trade deadline move that will guarantee a championship., Like they haven’t done for the past three years.

    1. The Dodgers have so many quality relief pitcher prospects in their farm system that trading Casey Sadler is no problem.

    2. Sadler was a bright spot in a problematic bullpen last year. It’s true that May, Gonsolin, Urias, and even Maeda will bounce between starting and relief roles capably. But Sadler did a good job. I think the Dodgers should have kept him. You need some pure bullpen performers.

  2. I was thrilled as always when I saw the Dodgers got their power bat, and 3 rd baseman all in one. His specs show he can hit 300 at lower level minors A ball. World series here we come!!!!!

  3. Clayton Daniel has hit 8 home runs in 5 years. He’s not exactly a power hitter. He has 5 stolen bases in 5 years, so he’not exactly a lead off guy either. The fact that he’s right handed, is his only similarity to a guy like Rendon. Giving up Sadler looks like a bad move unless Daniel is related to Muncy.

  4. Here is a sample of Dodgers relief pitching prospects making their way up through the minor leagues. (2019)

    Edwin Uceta. 11-2 w-l/ 2.77 era/ 1.28 whip
    Josiah Gray 11-2/ 2.28/ 0.992
    Victor Gonzalez 5-2/ 2.31/ 1.26
    Brett de Geus. 6-2/ 1.75/ 0.94
    Marshall Kasowski. 4-3/ 2.27/ 1.07
    Nolan Long. 5-1/ 2.29/ 1.22
    Ryan Moseley. 6-3/ 2.34/ 1.31
    Jose Martinez. 11-2/ 3.28/ 1.13
    Darien Nunez. 1-0/ 1.75/ 1.05
    Justin Bruihl. 5-0/ 1.30/ 0.89
    Edward Cuello. 1-0/ 0.00/ 0.81
    Justin Hagenman. 6-2/ 2.24/ 1.07
    Aaron Ochsenbein. 2-1/ 1.44/ 0.92
    Mark Washington. 4-1/ 2.97/ 1.07
    Jacob Cantleberry. 0-0/ 1.35/ 0.75
    Nick Robertson. 0-0/ 1.65/ 0.61
    Mitchell Tyranski. 1-0/ 1.13/ 0.75
    Adolfo Ramirez. 3-0/ 0.73/ 0.67
    Jerming Rosario. 0-0/ 0.79/ 0.95
    Axel Acevedo. 6-0/ 0.98/ 0.736

    Go Dodgers!

    1. Paul,
      I believe the Dodgers will make key roster decisions based upon how well their prospects develop.
      The Dodger way is to favor younger and less expensive players who have grown up together in the organization. I could never see them trading for David Price and his 90+ million dollar contract. That might be a reason why Casey Sadler was Dfi/traded. To reduce the payroll and make room for the next batch of relief pitchers.
      Go Dodgers!

      1. “The Dodger way is to favor younger and less expensive players…” Just admit it, younger CHEAPER players.

        CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP. You’d think The Front Office was growing baby chickens for Easter…

  5. Once again our minor league triple A farm team in the pacific coast league has not won a championship since the nineties! So to say they grew up together not winning is pretty much the trend once they arrive to the majors. Also glorifying stats from minor leaguers equating them to actual big leaguers is foolish. Like Vinny always said! ” everyone hits 300 in the minors”

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