Dodgers sent Brooks Brown outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City

LOS ANGELES -- Relief pitcher Brooks Brown cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, the Dodgers announced Friday.

The transaction removes Brown from the 40-man roster, which now sits at 36 players as the Dodgers head into the winter meetings in Nashville. Brown was claimed off waivers from the Rockies on Oct. 14.

Brown, who turns 31 in June, has a 3.97 ERA and 4.01 FIP in 64 appearances in relief in 2014-2015 combined with Colorado, with 41 strikeouts and 21 walks in 59 innings. In the majors, he has held right-handed hitters to hitting .231/.294/.331.

The right-hander was a starter until converting to relief in 2013, and has pitched parts of 10 seasons in the Diamondbacks, Tigers, Pirates and Rockies systems.

Brown has one year, 86 days of major league service time, and since this is his first outright assignment to the minors he doesn't have the necessary three years of service time to refuse the assignment. In other words, the Dodgers get to keep Brown as minor league depth.

Should Brown find his way back to the Dodgers' 40-man roster, he does have three option years remaining.