Rays designate Juan Carlos Oviedo for assignment

Jun 16, 2014; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Juan Carlos Oviedo (46) throws a pitch during the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

Jeremy Hellickson is returning to the majors to make his second start of the season tonight, and that means that the Rays had to make room for him. They did so by designating reliever Juan Carlos Oviedo (formerly Leo Nunez) for assignment.

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Oviedo had a 3.69 ERA in 32 appearances this season, but he had troubles with walks.

The Rays have played 18 games this month, and Oviedo only pitched in four of them. It seems as though he had been bypassed in the pecking order by Brad Boxberger, Jake McGee, and Kirby Yates anyway.

Designating him for assignment does come as a bit of a surprise though. If they Rays can’t trade Oviedo, then he will be released. There are enough teams that need bullpen help that one must think he would catch on somewhere else relatively quickly.

Oviedo is on a one year, $1.5 million contract, which makes him one of the more affordable relievers out there.

I wouldn’t expect the Rays to get much out of him, but they have such a glut of relievers at AAA that there are in a position to take what they can get and move on.

The fact that Oviedo was DFA’d and guys like Jeff Beliveau and Erik Bedard were not optioned suggest that the Rays probably have a trade target in mind for Oviedo. A DFA makes no sense if they don’t think they could move him.

As for the likely suitors, you can throw a dart at a board of the teams in contention, and all of them would be interested for the right price.

Will this kick off a trade bonanza for the Rays?

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