The Los Angeles Dodgers traded infielder Chin-Lung Hu on Monday to the New York Mets for left-handed pitcher Michael Antonini. Hu, who turns 27 in February, hit just .130/.160/.174 (three hits in 23 at-bats) for the Dodgers in 2010, and has hit .191/.241/.283 in 191 plate appearances over the last four seasons. Hu is out of options, and didn't figure to make the club out of spring training, so this move was expected.
Hu got extended playing time in the majors in 2008, filling in for an injured Rafael Furcal, but was demoted to the minors after a month, when he was hitting just .159/.224/.206. Hu battled vision problems in 2008, which contributed to his offensive struggles, but he hasn't produced much in the two seasons since either. Hu followed up an .871 OPS combined in Double A and Triple A in 2007 with a combined .735 OPS in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League from 2008-2010.
Antonini, 25, was drafted by the Mets in the 18th round of the 2007 draft, and was 8-12 with a 4.49 ERA in 29 starts between Double A and Triple A in 2010. Antonini, who has walked 2.1 batters per nine innings and struck out 7.0 batters per nine innings in his minor league career, was called "a finesse lefty with good control but little in the way of strikeout prowess" by Eric Simon of the SB Nation Mets blog Amazin Avenue. "If he were a ground ball pitcher then he might be a poor man’s Jon Niese, but he’s a fly ball pitcher and overall not very projectable," Simon said.
The Dodgers now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.
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