Boston Red Sox designate Chris Capuano for assignment

Considering the number of mediocre and just plain bad pitchers who are still holding onto roster spots at the present moment, this seems like a tough deal for Chris Capuano.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports that the Boston Red Sox designated Capuano for assignment on Wednesday.

The move is being made to create a spot for Clay Buchholz to return to Boston’s starting rotation.

Capuano had posted a 4.55 ERA in 28 appearances this seasonm struggling in his most recent outings. Working primarily out of the bullpen for the first time in a few years, Capuano did quite well in the first couple months of his tenure. Furthermore, his FIP (fielding independent pitching) is sitting right around league average at 4.01 and his K/9 mark is up (8.2). A world beater he is not, but that is a veteran, left-handed pitcher that the Red Sox DFA’ed. That’s a tough decision to make.

In a league where Heath Bell was still given his third chance by a big league team recently, one can only imagine that Capuano will be able to catch on somewhere else. Depending on the timetable for that team, he could either help right away out of the bullpen or be stretched back out to help in the starting rotation.

As recently as 2012 Capuano pitched well in the rotation for the Dodgers. The 35-year-old signed a one-year, $2.25 million deal with the Red Sox prior to the season. One imagines he will hear from a number of teams, contenders among them, in the coming weeks.