Dodgers send Darnell Sweeney & John Richy to Phillies in Chase Utley trade

OAKLAND -- The Dodgers officially announced the acquisition of second baseman Chase Utley from the Phillies on Wednesday night. The Dodgers get Utley and cash (reportedly $4 million per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, a little more than a two-thirds of what's guaranteed to Utley for the remainder of his contract) for outfielder Darnell Sweeney and pitcher John Richy.

Sweeney would have had to be added to the 40-man roster this November to protect him from being taken in the Rule 5 Draft. The 24-year-old hit .271/.332/.409 with 30 doubles and nine home runs in 116 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City, with 32 steals in 45 attempts.

Sweeney bounced around mostly between second base and center field, with occasional time mixed in at shortstop and third base. David Hood in December 2014 ranked Sweeney as the Dodgers' No. 14 prospect, with this note about a likely trade:

The biggest problem for Sweeney’s major league outlook is that the depth chart is full in front of him and he’s going to require a team that will give him time to figure out just what type of hitter he wants to be at the big league level. A team rebuilding, like Philadelphia, stands the most to gain from a player like Sweeney; where they can afford the patience of watching him strikeout at a 25-28% clip but might get the payoff of a .260/.340/.460 hitter. Someone will have to avoid the frustration of comparing what you’d expect him to be versus what he actually is.

The Dodgers drafted Sweeney in the 13th round in 2012 out of Central Florida.

Richy came to the Dodgers in the 2014 draft, picked in the third round out of UNLV. The right-hander, who turned 23 in July, was 10-5 with a 4.20 ERA in 22 games with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, including 18 starts, Ricky struck out 105 and walked 34 in 124 innings.

The Dodgers will need to make a roster move or two to add Utley to both the 40-man roster and to the active roster. Neither transaction has yet been announced.