Dodgers claim Eury De La Rosa off waivers from A's

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers on Thursday claimed left-handed pitcher Eury De La Rosa off waivers from the Athletics, and optioned him to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

To make room on the 40-man roster, Brandon McCarthy was transferred from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL. McCarthy is having his Tommy John surgery today, and is expected to be out until midseason 2016.

De La Rosa, 25, allowed three unearned runs in six innings with Triple-A Nashville over seven appearances, with five walks and four strikeouts. He hasn't yet allowed a hit this year, with batters 0-for-19 against him. The Dodgers got a good look at him, with four of his seven appearances coming against Oklahoma City.

Oakland designated De La Rosa for assignment on Saturday.

De La Rosa has pitched parts of two seasons in the Diamondbacks bullpen, going 2-1 with a 4.21 ERA in 44 games, with 48 strikeouts and 19 walks in 51⅓ innings, including a 2.95 ERA and 3.49 FIP in 25 games last year. The A's acquired the left-hander from Arizona for cash considerations in December.

Since the start of 2013, left-handed batters have hit .247/.322/.358 with 22 strikeouts and eight walks in 90 plate appearances in the majors against De La Rosa, and .172/.297/.248 against him in the minors with 47 strikeouts and 25 walks in 188 plate appearances.

De La Rosa is using his final option year this season, having also been optioned in 2013 and 2014. He has 148 days of major league service time.

Method to the madness

This is the latest pitching acquisition by the Dodgers this season who has been designated for assignment by another team, including the draft pick gambit that was the Ryan Webb situation. The club also added Ryan Dennick and Daniel Corcino from the Reds and Xavier Cedeno from the Nationals. All were subsequently designated for assignment by the Dodgers within a few days.

The Dodgers are in a low waiver position right now, because in the first 30 days of the season (through Monday) waiver priority (if more than one team makes a claim) is the inverse order of the previous season's record. Last year only the Nationals, Orioles and Angels had better records than the Dodgers. This year isn't too different, with the Dodgers currently owning the sixth-best record in baseball.

By winning the claim for these players like Dennick, Corcino and De La Rosa (Cedeno was different since he was acquired by trade), the Dodgers have a pretty good idea that the player will at least pass through 26 of the other 29 teams if they want to remove him from the 40-man but keep as depth by sending outright to the minors, as was the case with Dennick and Corcino. Cedeno, who wasn't a waiver claim, was traded to Tampa Bay.

So don't be surprised if De La Rosa isn't placed on waivers at some point in the next few days, as a calculated risk.