Mike Venafro, who took disabled pitcher Brad Penny's spot on the Dodger roster today, came to the organization last week in exchange for Jacksonville (AA) reliever Elvin Nina, who was second behind Yhency Brazoban in last month's Dodger Thoughts ranking of Dodger right-handed relief prospects.

Apparently, Dodger general manager Paul DePodesta wanted a lefty relief specialist to replace Tom Martin and Wilson Alvarez, who moved on to Atlanta and the Dodger starting rotation, respectively. Troy Brohawn was the best remaining in-house option, and he had an ERA of 4.90 in 75 1/3 innings at AAA Las Vegas. Interestingly, Venafro's statistics are not much different, with a 4.37 ERA compiled mostly in AAA Omaha, but Dodgers.com reports that Venafro, 31, held lefty batters in Omaha to a .211 batting average.

For his part, Nina had an ERA of 2.50 in 57 2/3 innings, with 62 strikeouts against 26 walks and 46 hits. Nina is 29, so it's not as if the Dodgers gave away a young pup. But it's not clear that they acquired a better pitcher, either.