Peter O’Brien had been designated for assignment just before Christmas, on December 23, as the team made room for newly-acquired catcher Juan Graterol. That gave Arizona ten days to figure out a trade for O’Brien, or he’d become available on waivers, and rumblings last week indicated such a deal was in the works: “[General Manager Mike] Hazen said O’Brien has received interest not only from clubs in the American League, in which he could see time at designated hitter, but also from NL teams.”
However, in the end, it was one of the former sides who appears to have come up with the best offer, and with the 10 days being up, the official announcement of the resulting deal came this afternoon:
Sam Lewis turned 25 in October, but has yet to pitch above High-A ball, in part because he missed the entire 2015 campaign due to Tommy John surgery.