Dodgers acquire Howie Kendrick from Angels for Andrew Heaney

SAN DIEGO -- The Dodgers endless day of transactions continues on Wednesday night, with the team reportedly acquiring Howie Kendrick from the Angels for pitcher Andrew Heaney, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

You may remember from such earlier Wednesday transactions as The Dee Gordon Trade.

Kendrick, 31, hit .293/.347/.397, a 115 OPS+ with 33 doubles, seven home runs and 14 steals in 2014, and in the last four years has hit .291/.337/.423, a 116 OPS+, averaging 142 games, 29 doubles and 12 home runs per season.

Kendrick rates above average defensively using ultimate zone rating, total zone rating and defensive runs saved for both 2014 and in his career. He has one more year and $9.5 million remaining on his contract, and will be a free agent after 2015.

This will be a three-team trade, and possibly a fourth if anyone linked in the trade with the Marlins ends up going to the Phillies to complete the Rollins deal. This brings to mind what Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said Tuesday night about these winter meetings.

"This isn't really a true market with buyers and sellers. A lot of teams are playing the middle right now. When it's not just true buyers and sellers, it's all about fit positionally," Zaidi explained. "There are very few bilateral trade negotiations. Everything is becoming a three-way trade or a four-way trade as people try to fit the pieces together."

Heaney, the No. 18 prospect in baseball per MLB.com, would have ranked third on David Hood's top Dodgers prospect list, to give you an idea of how highly he thought of the left-handed pitcher. Here is David's brief profile of Heaney.

Because the high first-round draft pick hails directly from my viewing area in Oklahoma City, I’m very familiar with Heaney’s ability and feel quite confident in his upside as an upper rotation starter. Heaney is ready for prime time right now, and if he slots into the back of the Dodgers rotation would give the team an early top candidate for 2015 Rookie of the Year.

The book on Heaney today remains more or less the same as it did while pitching for Oklahoma State, but now comes with a higher peak velocity. Heaney has two plus pitches, the slider flashing plus plus. Heaney operates in the low 90’s with a sinking fastball that he throws to both sides of the plate with aplomb. The go-to pitch at OSU was a hard slider with 1-7 tilt and late life in the zone. He can vary the break on the pitch to give it sweeping action for lefties to chase. His changeup has come on as a pro and he now has a better than average third pitch.

Despite his slender build, Heaney has proved to be very durable. He has a very easy motion and a quick, loose arm action, very repeatable and allows his command to play up. Heaney at times over relied on his slider at OSU and would default to it when he tired.

Heaney is a guy I’m confident can reach his upside of a number two starter that can work deep into games and hold up over the season thanks to his ability to pitch below his red line effectively, only to rev up when needed.

Well, @Dodgers we had a good run! Great to be a part of such a storied franchise. #thanksforthememories

— Andrew Heaney (@Heandog8) December 11, 2014

It is important to note that none of these trades have been officially announced yet, though they are expected to be finalized soon. Prior to Tuesday, the Dodgers and Angels hadn't made a major league trade since 1976. Now, they have made two in two, or maybe three days.

Scott Van Slyke summed up Wednesday the best:

Wow

— ScottVanSlyke (@ScottVanSlick) December 11, 2014