Cahill comes in, and League goes out

A couple of news items on the pitching staff...

* Trevor Cahill has been signed to a minor league deal.  He was recently with the Braves, where he got canned after going 0-3 with a 7.52 ERA and 1.72 WHIP.  Um, that's not good.  No wonder he got released.

There has been plenty of good in Cahill's career, as he was an All-Star in 2010 with Oakland, going 18-8 with a 2.97 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and .220 BAA.  That was by far his best year, as his numbers started to slide the next year.  A move to the Diamondbacks in 2012 didn't exactly help, as he had an ERA in the high-3's for a couple of years, but was horrific last season with a 5.71 ERA in 32 games (17 starts).  He was a complete disaster with the Braves in three starts this year.

If you're the Dodgers, you probably figure, What the heck?  Give it a shot and see what he can give you.  Maybe down the stretch he teams up with Brandon Beachy and gives the Dodgers some good starts at the end of the rotation.  If not, then it's a very low-risk signing, so no harm done.  We'll see what happens.

* In a bit of a surprising move, the Dodgers have decided to DFA Brandon League, who was on a Minor League rehab assignment for about a month.  If he clears waivers, he can either accept another Minor League assignment, or be released. 

How much will League gather if he's sent home for good?  Try $7.5 million.  That'll probably make him feel a little bit better when he's sitting on the couch sipping iced tea.  Or maybe something stronger.

Anyway, League was really good on rehab, giving up only one run in 10 2/3 innings.  Despite that, with his 30-day rehab window coming to a close, the Dodgers did not see enough out of him to bring him back to the big club.  His fastball barely reached 90 mph, and his hard sinker was largely a thing of the past.  That's not too surprising considering his right shoulder had long been giving him problems.

For Ned Colletti, this is yet another signing that proved to be a major flop, much like Brian Wilson, Jason Schmidt, and Matt Guerrier in the past.  Mega-bucks to guys fading in their careers, and it cost them.  While League was very good to close out 2012 (6-6 in saves, 2.70 ERA), he was mostly horrendous in 2013-14, getting the boot at closer for Kenley Jansen, and largely being relegated to mop-up duty.

Give Andrew Friedman this - he's not afraid to eat money if it means improving the team.  Wilson is being paid $10 million to get the hell away from the Dodgers, and barring some team shockingly wanting League at this point, he'll be paid $7.5 million to do the same.  That's a lot of dead money, but oh well.