Dodgers acquire Joel Peralta, Adam Liberatore in 4-player trade with Rays

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman made his first deal for Los Angeles with his old team, acquiring relief pitchers Joel Peralta and Adam Liberatore from the Rays in exchange for pitchers Jose Dominguez and Greg Harris.

Peralta, who turns 39 in March, has been a fixture in the Rays bullpen for four years. He was 3-4 with a 4.41 ERA in 69 games in 2014, with 74 strikeouts and 15 walks in 63⅓ innings. Peralta will be paid $2.5 million in 2015, with a pair of options worth $2.5 million in each of 2016 and 2017, with no buyout.

Peralta leads all major league pitchers with 296 games pitched in the last four seasons, with a 3.58 ERA and a 3.40 FIP during that span.

Liberatore, who will turn 28 in May, was 6-1 with a 1.54 ERA and four saves in 54 games in his third turn with Triple-A Durham, with 86 strikeouts and 15 walks in 65 innings. Liberatore was drafted by the Rays in the 21st round out of Tennessee Tech University in 2010, when Friedman was executive vice president of baseball operations in Tampa Bay.

Liberatore was named a Triple-A All-Star in 2014 by Baseball America. He was born in nearby Bellflower but played his high school ball in Pennsylvania. He had Tommy John surgery while at Tennessee Tech, ending his 2009 season that started and ended with a 2-0 record and 17 scoreless innings in three starts, with 21 strikeouts.

Left-handers hit just .176/.228/.243 against Liberatore in 2014, with 34 strikeouts in 79 plate appearances (a whopping 43 percent) and just five walks. In the last three seasons, split between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham, Liberatore allowed one home run to lefties in 263 plate appearances, hitting just .175/.251/.235 against him, with 91 strikeouts (34.6 percent) and 20 walks.

Dominguez had one of the most lively arms in the Dodgers organization. He had a 3.24 ERA with 39 strikeouts and 18 walks in 33⅓ innings in Triple-A Albuquerque in 2014. In parts of two seasons with the Dodgers, the right-hander allowed 11 runs on 18 hits in 14⅔ innings, with 12 strikeouts and six walks in 14 appearances.

Dominguez, 24, missed most of the last two months of this past season with right shoulder inflammation.

Harris was drafted by the Dodgers in the 17th round in 2013 for an above-slot bonus of $175,000. The right-hander and son of the former ambidextrous major league pitcher with the same name was 7-6 with  4.45 ERA in 22 games with Class-A Great Lakes in 2014, including 16 starts, with 92 strikeouts and 28 walks in 87 innings. Harris turned 20 in August.

The Dodgers added Liberatore, who would have been eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, to the 40-man roster. This move puts the Dodgers' 40-man roster at full capacity. Earlier Thursday, the team added minor league players Zach Lee, Chris Reed and Scott Schebler to the 40-man, but also created room with Onelki Garcia claimed off waivers by the White Sox. Liberatore is one of 20 pitchers on the roster, and one of five left-handed relief pitchers.

With the addition of Peralta, the Dodgers now have $192 million committed to 16 players in 2015.