Tampa Bay trades DeJesus to Angels

HOUSTON (AP) The Los Angeles Angels acquired outfielder David DeJesus from the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday for minor league pitcher Eduar Lopez.

The 35-year-old DeJesus is hitting .259 with five homers and 26 RBIs this season. He has hit .276 with 99 homers and 569 RBIs in his 13-year career with Kansas City, Oakland, the Chicago Cubs, Washington and Tampa Bay.

Also on Tuesday the Angels acquired outfielder David Murphy in a trade with the Cleveland Indians.

''They are a couple of veteran guys; they've played in very important games before, including postseason,'' Angels interim general manager Bill Stoneman said. ''That sort of experience should help us as we approach September and hopefully the postseason.''

DeJesus had mixed emotions about the deal.

''My family is out in LA so it's a blessing in disguise,'' DeJesus said. ''It stinks leaving these guys that you've worked all season and spring training with to put ourselves in the situation to get to the playoffs and we're right there. That's the tough part, but I'm going to a first-place team and I get to move closer to where I live. So it's a good problem.''

He has started 65 games this season, 44 in left field, 20 at designated hitter and one in right field.

Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman said that John Jaso and eventually Desmond Jennings will get the at-bats that DeJesus was getting. Jennings hasn't played since April 25 because of arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, but is going on a rehabilitation assignment on Friday.

''Going back to spring training, we didn't think it was a very functional roster to have both DeJesus and Jaso on this club,'' Silverman said. ''We were able to accommodate it. At this point we felt it was the right move to look forward and redistribute those at-bats across a different group of players.''

Lopez was 2-2 with a 4.32 ERA in eight starts at rookie-level Orem this season. The 20-year-old is 10-9 with a 3.39 ERA in parts of four minor league seasons.

The Angels designated right-hander Jeremy McBryde for assignment to make room for DeJesus on the 40-man roster.