The Rays have designated southpaw Erik Bedard for assignment in order to clear roster space for right-hander Joel Peralta, who is coming off the disabled list, the team announced.
The 35-year-old Bedard pitched 75 2/3 innings in a Rays uniform this season, tallying a 4.76 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 33.6 percent ground-ball rate. The former Orioles ace has seen his results diminish over the past few seasons, and he averaged a career-low 87.9 mph on his fastball this season. That drop in velocity likely has something to do with his 7.6 K/9 — also a career-low.
Bedard has yielded an identical .707 OPS to right-handed and left-handed hitters alike in his career to this point, though he developed a reverse-platoon split in 2014. Opposing lefties weren’t fooled by Bedard, slashing a healthy .273/.333/.494 against the veteran Canadian. Bedard signed a minor league deal with Tampa this offseason and made the team out of Spring Training. He’ll join a slew of players in DFA limbo, all of whom can be seen in MLBTR’s DFA Tracker.
Will Blue Jays snap up this Canadian?
I can see the discussion happening, but who goes if he hits the rotation? I can’t imagine him making it to AAA Buffalo without losing him.
Maybe the Yankees – they could do worse I suppose.
No, he isn’t very good and his ground ball rate is terrible. That is a terrible fit in Yankee Stadium.
Not that I would expect anything great, but it would be cool if the Rays could get something for him. Maybe a low level lottery ticket.
Bedard has been toast for two years now. Surprised he lasted this long. When he was with the Pirates in 2012 he was throwing batting practice.
It’s about time. We have been playing a man down for almost a month now. The constant shuffling of Karns, Beliveau, and Yates back and forth from AAA to the MLB, all while Bedard sits in the bullpen unused, was maddening.