Dodgers Add to Bullpen in Four-Player Trade With Rays

The team is not wasting time to address its biggest issue

The Los Angeles Dodgers took their first step this off season to fixing a problematic bullpen by adding veteran right-handed reliever Joel Peralta in a four-player trade with the Tampa Bay Rays Friday.

The Dodgers also received minor league pitcher Adam Liberatore in exchange for pitchers Jose Dominguez and Greg Harris.

The Peralta acquisition is not exactly a long-term solution for the Dodgers, as he’ll be 39 years old when Spring Training starts in 2015.

Peralta also didn’t exactly light the world on fire last season with his 3-4 record and 4.41 ERA. What the 10-year big league veteran has done, however, is become more durable with age. Peralta has pitched in an average of 74 games and 67 innings per season since tuning 35 years old.

The Dodgers are definitely looking into the future by adding Liberatore to the trade.

It’s not clear if, or when, or how, the 27-year-old will fit into the mix on the big league team but he just finished up his best season in 2014 with a 6-1 record and 1.66 ERA for the Rays Triple-A Durham squad. He was named the organization’s top minor league reliever.

Dominguez, 23, pitched in just five games for the Dodgers in 2014, giving up eight earned runs in 6 ⅓ innings. The hard throwing right-hander suffered through shoulder inflammation toward the ends of last season.

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In two minor league seasons with the Dodgers Harris, 20, was 9-9 with a 4.69 ERA. He finished the 2014 year with Class-A Great Lakes.

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