Diamondbacks Complete Dan Haren Trade

When the Arizona Diamondbacks announced the trade of pitcher Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the deal included left-handed pitcher Joe Saunders, right-handed pitcher Raphael Rodriguez, right-handed pitcher Patrick Corbin and a player to be named later.

As discussed previously, the expected player to be named later would be left-handed pitcher Tyler Skaggs. That came to fruition with the Diamondbacks and Angels announcing Skaggs would be sent to Arizona.

Since July 26 when the trade was initially announced, Skaggs has been held out of games as a safeguard to prevent injury. As a result he hasn't pitched in a couple of weeks. The question now becomes, will the Diamondbacks have Skaggs pitch for the Single-A South Bend Silver Hawks?

Initial indications are the Diamondbacks will have Skaggs throw long-toss and bullpen sessions then have him pitch in instructional league after the minor league season has ended. There is a possibility that Skaggs could be included in the Arizona Fall League depending on his inning totals.

Now that all the pieces have been officially identified in the trade the Diamondbacks appear to have filled several holes in the minor league and major league levels with one deal. Saunders has pitched well in the three games he has appeared in for Arizona despite the loss he received today.

Rodriguez was expected to be a September call up by the Diamondbacks but that plan was accelerated by a couple of weeks when Juan Gutierrez went down with shoulder inflammation. Rodriguez was called up and made his Diamondbacks debut in today’s game.

Although he struggled giving up two runs on three hits in two innings work, Rodriguez had moments of brilliance that shows potential. Hopefully with a little more experience he will become a solid piece of the 2010 and 2011 bullpen.