There may come a day when the firing of Bobby Valentine is remembered as “the other transaction” on October 4, 2012. 

For now, the other moves made by the Red Sox on Thursday seem like the footnotes – little more than paperwork or a line in a transaction log. But that could change.

On the same day that the Sox dismissed Valentine, they also officially acquired the final pieces in the Dodgers blockbuster deal that transpired on August 24-25. The two players to be named in the deal – Rubby De La Rosa and Jerry Sands – officially became Red Sox with the end of the season. 

The development hardly came as a surprise. The Dodgers and Red Sox agreed on all of the players who would be party to the transaction when it was finalized, with De La Rosa and Sands joining right-hander Allen Webster, infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr. and first baseman James Loney in the eastward migration in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto. However, because De La Rosa and Sands were claimed off of trade waivers in August, they had to be pulled back from waivers and thus couldn’t be included in the deal until after the season. 

Still, their inclusion in the deal was widely known. Thus, Thursday’s announcement that De La Rosa and Sands were moving came as completely unsurprising. 

Still, that doesn’t diminish the significant of the two players, particularly De La Rosa. Indeed, there is a chance that the 23-year-old right-hander could play a considerable role in the transformation of a rotation that was desperately lacking in 2011 and 2012. 

Start with this: In 2011, De La Rosa was so dominant with Double-A Chattanooga (2.93 ERA, 52 strikeouts in 40 innings) that he was bumped up two levels to the big leagues as a 22-year-old. In the majors, he held his own. In 13 games (10 starts), he had a 3.71 ERA with 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings. 

De La Rosa became the 31st pitcher since 1901 who, at age 22 or younger, made at least 10 starts in his big league debut with at least 8.0 strikeouts per nine innings. The rest of the list includes some stellar names, among them: Don Sutton, Roger Clemens, Dwight Gooden, Kerry, Wood, CC Sabathia, Jake Peavy, Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw and Stephen Strasburg, among others. 

(For the complete list, click here.) 

Beyond the statistics, there is the stuff. 

“His main pitch is his tremendous fastball, anywhere from 94-100 mph with very good movement on it. His main secondary out-pitch is his changeup, which is what we consider in the scouting world [on the 20-80 scouting scale, with 80 being the highest) an 80 changeup. It's very deceptive, especially with his arm speed and fastball,” said Chuck Crim, De La Rosa’s pitching coach in Double-A Chattanooga in both 2011 and 2012. “He's got a put-away, strikeout changeup. He's got a slider. He's got a curveball. 

“He's pretty creative. As soon as he starts to spin pitches, he likes to change arm angles, create different breaks. It's really one main kind of breaking ball that he uses different angles with. But his main secondary is the put-away changeup. It's an 80. It's unbelievable.”

This year, in his return from Tommy John surgery, De La Rosa’s fastball would often pop at 94-96 mph (including in his brief return to the big leagues, just prior to the trade with the Sox) and, according to Crim, his changeup remained of the fall-off-the-table variety. 

That combination -- a three-pitch mix, a high-90s (to triple digits) fastball and a pull-the-string change -- is an exceedingly rare one. How rare?

“Very few guys have that arm speed that Rubby has and still are able to start, carry innings and have a tremendous out-pitch,” said Crim. “I would say a guy like maybe Pedro Martinez. The throw is different, but the stuff is there. You could probably compare his actual stuff but not his [throwing motion] to a guy like that. Granted, it's going to take Rubby a few years to have all the experience and knowledge of major league pitching, but the stuff you could probably compare to Pedro. I consider the attitude the same -- the mound presence is very confident that he can get anybody out. With that guy's stuff, who wouldn't be confident?”

One AL talent evaluator described De La Rosa in largely similar terms, suggesting that he occasionally hits 100, more often works at 93-98 mph as a starter, with both a wipeout slider and excellent changeup to generate swings and misses. 

“His floor is probably a setup reliever – and I don’t think he’ll be that – but the ceiling is a top-of-the-rotation starter,” said that evaluator. 

The 6-foot, 205-pound right-hander did walk 4.6 batters per nine innings in the big leagues in 2011, consistent with the high walks totals (4.0 per nine innings) that he exhibited in the minors. That being the case, command and pitch efficiency (along with health) will clearly be key considerations in determining what he will become in the big leagues. 

De La Rosa underwent Tommy John surgery on Aug. 9, 2011, and he just got his feet wet in his return this year. He pitched a total of 13 2/3 innings in the big leagues and minors, and so while his arsenal -- when healthy -- is big-league ready, the Sox will likely open the year with him in the minors next year to manage his innings and build up the 24-year-old’s workload gradually. 

Moreover, because there is some uncertainty about precisely where in his rehab progression De La Rosa will be, the Sox are in a position where it makes more sense to build their 2013 rotation this offseason on the assumption that he won’t be a part of it to start the year, and then adjust once they get a better read on where he is. For now, there are no plans for De La Rosa either to join the Sox in the Fall Instructional League or to pitch in winter ball. 

Nonetheless, the arrival of De La Rosa into the Red Sox system on Thursday could be impactful -- particularly as the Sox stockpile arms for the sake of bolstering both their big league club in the future and accumulate potential chips for deals. (In this case, it’s worth noting that there were multiple reports that the reason the Dodgers had to pull De La Rosa back off of waivers was because the Blue Jays claimed him. If accurate (it does seem surprising that the entire National League would have passed on him), then Toronto’s interest could be notable in the context of discussions with the Sox about John Farrell.)

While the attention was quite rightly placed on the Sox’ decision to “hit the reset button” (in the words of CEO/president Larry Lucchino) with the firing of Valentine, De La Rosa could represent a considerable element in the team’s process of building for the future.