Dodgers Finalize Rafael Furcal Trade, Acquire Alex Castellanos From St. Louis, Recall Dee Gordon

The Dodgers on Sunday morning finalized their trade of Rafael Furcal to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers are sending Furcal and cash to St. Louis in exchange for Double A outfielder Alex Castellanos. In addition, the Dodgers have recalled Dee Gordon from Triple A, and he will be active for today's series finale with the Diamondbacks.

Beginning today, there are 60 days left in the 183-day season, so Furcal has roughly $3,934,426 in remaining salary this season. The Dodgers will pay all but "almost $1.4 million" of that, per Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. Furcal is expected to be in the Cardinals' lineup tonight as they battle the Cubs in ESPN Sunday night baseball.

Castellanos, who turns 25 on Thursday, was a 10th round draft pick in 2008, and is hitting .319/.379/.562 with 19 home runs and 10 stolen bases for Double A Springfield. "In Castellanos, we’re getting a player who has shown a combination of power and speed," said general manager Colletti. "We hope that he can refine those abilities to a big league standard."

Castellanos also has 24 walks against 94 strikeouts in 391 plate appearances. "He has some pop but he has a long swing and chases too many pitches out of the strike zone.," noted Jim Callis of Baseball America in his analysis of the deal. "Despite his 2011 numbers, he doesn't have the bat to profile as a big league regular there."

Castellanos, who will report to Double A Chattanooga, will need to be added to the 40-man roster this winter if the Dodgers don't want to risk losing him in the Rule 5 draft.

Gordon hit .375/.402/.500 in 20 games with Albuquerque after he was optioned on July 4. He had 13 multi-hit games for the Isotopes, along with four walks and 10 strikeouts in his second stint with Albuquerque. Gordon stole eight bases in those 20 games, without being caught.