Rangers acquire pitchers Lindblom and Bonilla
The Texas Rangers today officially announced that the club has acquired right-handed pitchers Josh Lindblom and Lisalverto Bonilla from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for infielder Michael Young and cash considerations. The trade was finalized following approval from Major League Baseball this morning.
Lindblom goes on the Rangers’ major league roster while Bonilla has been assigned to the Double-A Frisco roster. Texas’ major league roster remains at 39 players.
Lindblom, 25, was 3-5 with a 3.55 ERA (71.0 IP, 61 H, 31 R, 28 ER, 35 BB, 70 SO) and one save in 74 relief appearances with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Phillies in 2012, his first full major league season. He tied for 13th in the National League in appearances and holds (22) while holding opponents to a .232 (61-263) batting average, .209 (31-148) against right-handed batters. Lindblom posted a 1.79 ERA (8 ER/40.1 IP) in his home parks with the Dodgers and Phillies, the fourth lowest among all N.L. pitchers with at least 40.0 innings. For the season, he averaged 8.9 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
The right-hander was 2-2, 3.02 in 48 games with the Dodgers, posting a 0.66 ERA over 11 appearances in April. He was traded to the Phillies on July 31 in a four-player deal that saw outfielder Shane Victorino going from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Lindblom went 1-3, 4,63 in 26 games with the Phillies, posting a 0.79 (1 ER/11.1 IP) over 12 appearances from August 29-Sept. 26. He earned his first major league save on August 26 vs. Washington.
Selected by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, Lindblom made his major league debut with Los Angeles in 2011, going 1-0, 2.73 in 27 appearances over three different stints with the club. He is 4-5, 3.31 in 101 career big league games, fanning 98 in 100.2 innings.
Bonilla, 23, had a 3-2 record and 1.55 ERA with 4 saves in 31 relief appearances between Single-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading in the Phillies system in 2012, his first season as a full-time reliever. He held the opposition to a .191 batting average and recorded 64 strikeouts in 46.1 total innings of work. Bonilla opened at Clearwater, going 1-1, 1.32 in 10 games to earn a promotion to Reading, where he was 2-1, 1.64 in 21 outings. The right-hander was selected to play in both the Major League All-Star Futures Game and the Eastern League All-Star Game. Bonilla has spent the off-season with Escogido in the Dominican Winter League, going 1-4, 6.59 with 2 saves in 16 games. He has pitched four seasons in the Philadelphia system since signing as a non-drafted free agent in December 2008.
Young batted .277 with 8 homers and 67 RBI in 156 games with the Rangers in 2012, starting 154 games at 5 different positions He departs as Texas’ all-time leader in games (1823), at bats (7399), runs (1085), hits (2230), singles (1583), doubles (415), triples (55), total bases (3286), multi-hit games (651), strikeouts (1152), and sacrifice flies (70) while placing third in batting (.301), RBI (984), and extra base hits (647). Over the last 11 seasons (2003-2012), Young ranks second in the majors with 1559 games, 6438 at bats, and 1984 hits to Ichiro Suzuki (1597 G, 6746 AB, 2156 H). The five-time Rangers Player of the Year made his major league debut with Texas on Sept. 29, 2000 and has appeared in at least 155 games in 10 of the last 11 seasons. Young is a seven-time All-Star, has posted 200+ hits six times, and was the 2005 A.L. batting champion.