Dodgers acquire Scott Alexander, White Sox get Joakim Soria in 3-team trade

The Dodgers, Royals and White Sox swung a three-team deal Thursday night, with lefty Scott Alexander heading to Los Angeles and veteran reliever Joakim Soria going to Chicago as the most notable names of the six players involved. The full trade is as follows:

Dodgers acquire: LHP Scott Alexander (from KC), INF Jake Peter (from CWS)
Royals acquire: RHP Trevor Oaks (from LAD), INF Erick Mejia (from LAD)
White Sox acquire: LHP Luis Avilan (from LAD), RHP Joakim Soria (from KC), cash

For the Dodgers, the 28-year-old Alexander is the headliner of the deal. The southpaw, who was originally the Royals’ sixth-round pick in 2010, posted a 2.48 ERA and 73.3 percent groundball rate, with the latter being second in the majors behind Orioles closer Zach Britton last season.

Alexander will replace free agent Tony Watson in the Dodgers bullpen, giving Los Angeles a cost-controlled option for years to come. Alexander is controllable through the 2022 season, giving the Dodgers five years before he hits free agency.

Peter, 24, hit .279/.344/.417 with 13 homers in 120 games split between Double-A and Triple-A for Chicago last season. The former seventh-round pick has the ability to play in the outfield or middle infield but was not ranked among MLB.com’s top 30 White Sox prospects at the time of the deal.

In Oaks and Mejia, the Royals get two prospects who they’ll have for the long haul. Oaks, 24, was the team’s seventh-round pick in 2014 and owned a 3.64 ERA and 8.0 K/9 in 84 innings as a starter for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate last season. He was touted as the team’s 14th-overall prospect by MLB.com, projecting as an innings-eater at the back end of the rotation with an effective sinker.

Mejia, 23, hit .278/.344/.397 with eight homers and 28 steals in 127 games in 2017, spending the majority of his time in Double-A.

Chicago was light on bullpen options after dealing away Anthony Swarzak, Dan Jennings, Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson at the trade deadline, so Avilan and Soria will provide a veteran presence on the South Side.

Avilan, 28, is under control for two seasons after posting a 2.93 ERA and 2.96 FIP in 46 innings for L.A. in 2017. Soria, 33, is a 10-year major-league veteran who worked to a 3.70 ERA and 2.23 FIP in 56 innings for the Royals last year.

Soria is in the final season of the three-year, $25 million deal he signed with Kansas City two winters ago, meaning he’s due $10 million in 2018. The Royals were able to dump his entire salary as part of the trade, giving the club some extra money in their attempts to re-sign veterans Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas.