Athletics acquire Eury De La Rosa from Diamondbacks, DFA Fernando Rodriguez

The Oakland Athletics announced they have acquired left-handed relief pitcher Eury De La Rosa from the Arizona Diamondbacks this Thursday morning in exchange for cash considerations. To clear space on the 40-man roster, the Athletics designated right-handed relief pitcher Fernando Rodriguez for assignment.

De La Rosa, turning 25 next season, achieved his first significant time in the major leagues last year where he posted a 2.95 ERA and 3.49 FIP in 36⅔ innings, striking out 32 and walking 14. In AZ Snake Pit's community appraisal of Eury De La Rosa, a 45% plurality was "fairly satisfied" and 43% were "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied." Scoutingbook.com offers this report from the spring of 2013:

His fastball is a low-to-mid nineties model, but it comes with some sink and nifty movement, contributing to his good ground ball rate. The breaking ball, while not a plus pitch, is more than enough to keep hitters honest.

The Diamondbacks had designated Eury De La Rosa for assignment on December 12 after acquiring three players in the trade that sent Wade Miley to the Boston Red Sox.

40-man map

In designating Fernando Rodriguez for assignment, the trade ends the line for the other half of the Chris Carter trade:

With Rodriguez goes the bridge between the Grieve/Hinch/Berroa trade line and the Mulder trade line. #Athletics pic.twitter.com/uOIBrleKfX

— Jeremy F. Latkoos (@jfkooAN) December 18, 2014

Below is the new 40-man roster map. You may download a high-resolution version at this link:

Quick take

This is a minor move for left-handed relief depth as the A's already have three relievers who will make the team in Sean Doolittle, Fernando Abad, and Eric O'Flaherty. Fernando Rodriguez was out of options, which only made him the incumbent for the right-handed relief role in competition with Evan Scribner, Taylor Thompson, and several other righties lurking off of the 40-man roster. The team simply must feel it has better choices for right-handed pitching presently or can acquire better choices.

Statistics courtesy Baseball Reference.