By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: Oakland A’s Josh Reddick shown plays the ball off the wall hit by Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez on Sunday was part of the deal sending him and pitcher Rich Hill to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday

OAKLAND–It’s pretty safe to say that “Careless Whisper” will not be heard inside the Oakland Coliseum for the foreseeable future.

That’s because the A’s sent outfielder Josh Reddick, who brought the George Michael-performed slow melody to the batter’s box with him a couple of years ago to much fanfare, to the Los Angeles Dodgers along with starting pitcher Rich Hill for three prospects.

For the A’s, unloading top players for prospects that the team hopes can contribute at some point down the road is nothing new, as they have had nothing to play for at this point in the past two seasons, and it does not looks like they will be playing for anything any time soon, either.

After a hot start to the second half, the A’s were swept in a weekend series by the Indians in Cleveland, which own one the second-best record in the American League at 60-43, and they followed the drubbing up by essentially throwing in the towel on their season yet again in an attempt to gain hope in a future that is, at this point anyway, murky at best.

For another example of that, one just needs to reference the trade of third baseman Josh Donaldson after the 2014 season, a deal that the A’s have yet to real any benefits at all, with the exception of the unloading of salary.

Donaldson, by the way, went on to win the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 2015 with his new team, the Toronto Blue Jays.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are doing whatever they can to try and take down the Giants in the National League West, and adding Reddick and Hill went a long way toward accomplishing that goal. Expect Reddick, who is batting .296 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs after missing five weeks with a broken thumb, to start in right field, particularly after the Dodgers promptly sent immensely talented-yet-mightily troubled outfielder Yasiel Puig to the minors following Reddick’s acquisition.

Hill is expected to bolster an injury-plagued rotation that is desperately in need of a fifth starter. He is 9-3 this year with a 2.25 earned-run average, but he is currently battling a blister on his pitching hand himself. He is schedule to come off the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 20, on Saturday.

As for the A’s, they will get on with the rest of their season on Tuesday, when they travel to Anaheim for a three-game series with the Angels, who share last place with the A’s in the American League West.

They will then come back home to the Coliseum for a three-gamer with the Chicago Cubs, who are atop the National League Central before hosting the Baltimore Orioles for four games and then the Seattle Mariners for three more