The Tampa Bay Rays have designated Juan Carlos Oviedo for assignment. In his place will be Jeremy Hellickson.
Formerly known as 'Leo Nunez', Oviedo was originally signed by the Pirates as an amateur costless agent in February of 2000. In 2004, the Pirates traded him to the Royals for C Benito Santiago and was traded again to the Marlins this time for 1B Mike Jacobs. This season, Oviedo finally returned to the MLB mound this season since 2011. It has been quite the journey since that time.
First, he was placed on the restricted list indefinitely by the Marlins in September of 2011 and being suspended for the first 2 1/2 months of the 2012 season due to MLB uncovering that he had used fake identification documents and he was actually one year older than he was thought to be. After serving his suspension, he went to the Marlins AAA affiliate to attempt to get back into baseball condition and make his way back to the big leagues in July of 2012. However, while rehabbing, he sprained his UCL in his right elbow and ultimately needed Tommy John Surgery.
On January 22nd, 2013 the Tampa Bay Rays signed the former Marlins closer to a minor league deal with an $2 million option for 2014, as he was unlikely to pitch in 2013 as recovered from Tommy John Surgery. In the offseason, the Rays decided to decline the 2014 option for him and buy it out for $30k. Tampa Bay did re-sign him later in the offseason to a 1-year deal worth $1.5 Million.
At first glance it is hard to realize why the reliever was designated, as he went 3-3 with a 3.69 ERA in 31 1/3 IP (32 games) but he was only striking out 7.4 and walking 4.5 per every 9 innings. While 4.5 walks for every nine innings pitched is not good, striking out only 4.5 batter for every nine inning pitched can help overcome the walks. That may just simply mean he likes to pitch to contact. This writer simply believes Oviedo was doing fine as a reliever, but just happened to be the odd man out in the already set and full Rays bullpen.
It will be interesting to see what Oviedo's fate will be. Surely, a team looking for bullpen help could claim him off waivers as a cheap, low-risk, option for their bullpen or he could pass through waivers. It will be interesting to see if Tampa Bay could retain him and see if he would accept a minor league outright or if he would elect costless agency instead, looking for a big league roster spot with a different club.