The chunky lefthander with the hittable fastball got his wish to pitch regularly, but his personal nightmare is that most of his starts will now be in Kansas City. The Dodgers wanted to be rid of Perez so badly that they had to bribe the last-place Royals with two minor leaguers and cash considerations, and take Elmer Dessens off of KC's hands. Dodgers brass had been saying publicly that Perez would not be traded, but the whole time GM Ned Colletti was trying to dump the ineffective (and expensive) pitcher.

"Moving him was something we really needed to do for all concerned, including him," Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said on a conference call. "He lost his starting job, obviously. It's probably best to cut ties and move on. We were not getting much productivity out of that roster spot."

Colletti said the Royals wouldn't accept a straight-up trade for Perez, and demanded prospects and cash, too.

"It hasn't been easy," he said. "If it was easy, it would've happened a while ago."

Dessens has been this route before. He pitched for the Dodgers last year and the season before, getting in 40 games — even starting seven — and defining the term journeyman. Dessens, who is 35, hails from Hermosillo.