Marlins Designate Brad Davis For Assignment

The Marlins designated catcher Brad Davis for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for recently-signed infielder Jose Lopez, tweets Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post.  Righty Elih Villanueva, who was hammered by the Phillies today in his big league debut, was optioned to create a spot on the 25-man roster.

Davis, 28, was hitting .212/.294/.303 in 187 Triple-A plate appearances this year, a big step down from his work at that level in 2010.  Davis spent some time in the Majors last year, but lost the spring battle with Brett Hayes to be the Marlins' backup catcher.