Colletti Finds Taker for Perez in Royals

Appropriately, the deal was completed from a Las Vegas hotel. General Manager Ned Colletti pulled off the front office equivalent of setting his chips on double zero at the roulette wheel and hitting it.

While in Las Vegas to watch the Dodgers’ triple-A team, Colletti worked the phones and found a taker for pitcher Odalis Perez, sending the left-hander to the Kansas City Royals along with two Class-A pitchers and a vault full of cash. The Dodgers will pay Perez a $4.5-million signing bonus due in November and give the Royals between $7.5 and $9 million, depending on whether Perez remains in Kansas City through next season.

In return, the Dodgers got journeyman reliever Elmer Dessens, who is back with the team he led in earned-run average last season. The Royals will pay the remainder of Dessens’ $1.7-million salary this season and the $1.7 million he’s owed in 2007.

“I think this is best for all concerned,” Colletti said. “[Perez] had lost his starting job and it was best to cut the ties. We weren’t getting much productivity out of that roster spot.”

Perez, 29, lost his berth in the starting rotation after a disastrous outing at Arizona in early May and has begrudgingly pitched out of the bullpen since. He’s been ineffective, posting a record of 4-4 with a 6.83 earned-run average.

“Sometimes people judge you and say your work habits aren’t good,” he said. “It’s not true. I’m mad. And I’m sad. I met a lot of good people here.”

Perez is in the second year of a back-loaded three-year, $24-million contract and assistant General Manager Kim Ng said the Dodgers would end up paying all but about $3 million.

Colletti tried to trade Perez earlier, but had no takers until packaging him with Class-A prospects Blake Johnson, 21, and Julio Pimentel, 20.

Johnson, a second-round draft pick in 2004, was 4-5 with a 4.92 ERA in 20 games at Vero Beach. A source close to the Royals said Johnson was the key to the deal.

Pimentel, a converted outfielder from the Dominican Republic, had more than 100 strikeouts each of the last two seasons but struggled this year.

Dessens, 35, signed with the Royals as a free agent after pitching effectively for the Dodgers last season. The right-hander is 5-7 with two saves and a 4.50 ERA.

Colletti said the money saved by trading Perez wouldn’t necessarily go toward improving the Dodgers before Monday’s trading deadline.

“Money has not been an issue with this trading deadline session,” he said. “It’s a matter of who is available. Difference-making players available are very, very few and the requests coming back are for multiple players you’ve seen play at Dodger Stadium.”

*

After pitching scoreless innings in two minor league rehabilitation appearances, Brett Tomko will be activated today and used out of the bullpen. The right-hander was in the starting rotation, going 6-6 with a 5.12 ERA until being sidelined with an injured side June 24.

The Dodgers have only 11 pitchers on the roster, so the corresponding move to Tomko’s activation won’t necessarily involve a pitcher.