When the Los Angeles Dodgers made a trade this past week with the Atlanta Braves, it came as a bit of a surprise that the team designated one of the players acquired for assignment once the deal was complete.

Left-hander Eric Stults was one of four players heading to the Dodgers in exchange for Juan Uribe and Chris Withrow, but the team immediately designated him for assignment. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the team would like to keep him if he cleared waivers. On Monday morning, that became a reality and Stults is still in the organization.

According to Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish, the 35-year-old will join one of the Dodgers minor-league affiliates:

Source: Eric Stults staying with #Dodgers organization by accepting outright assignment to AA Tulsa. LA gets depth they wanted in trade. — Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) June 1, 2015

With the Braves in 2015, Stults was 1-5 with a 5.85 ERA in nine games (eight starts) before being traded. He signed with the team in February after spending the last three seasons with the San Diego Padres. This is Stults’ second stint with the Dodgers after being drafted by them in 2002 and spending four years in Los Angeles from 2006-2009.

Stults becomes the latest depth piece in the never-ending search for pitching depth by Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi. The left-hander could build up some innings at Double-A before possibly moving up to Triple-A and if needed, the big leagues. The Dodgers have a five-man rotation as of now after Mike Bolsinger and Carlos Frias earned their roles; however, the team has already lost two starters for the year and Stults could very well find himself on the mound for the Dodgers.

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