Rays Designate Dana Eveland For Assignment, Release Ryan Webb

The Rays have designated left-hander Dana Eveland for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man and 25-man rosters for right-hander Dylan Floro, per a club announcement (links to Twitter via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Additionally, the team announced that Ryan Webb has cleared waivers and been released following his DFA late last month.

[Related: Updated Rays Depth Chart]

Eveland, 32, has surrendered 19 runs in 20 innings with the Rays this season. He’s punched out 18 hitters in that time, but he’s surrendered a troublesome 27 hits and 15 walks, leading to his bloated earned run average. The Rays will have 10 days to trade, outright or release the left-hander. If outrighted, he’ll have the ability to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, although he’s already been designated for assignment and accepted an outright assignment once this season. Eveland has a 5.42 ERA in parts of 11 seasons at the big league level, though he’s totaled just 443 1/3 innings in that time.

In his place, the Rays will turn to the 25-year-old Floro, who has put up strong numbers in Triple-A this year. While Floro doesn’t come with the gaudy strikeout totals that are often associated with up-and-coming relief prospects, he’s demonstrated stellar control throughout his minor league career since being selected in the 13th round of the 2012 draft. He’s saved seven games for the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham this season, posting a 2.81 ERA and averaging 7.1 K/9 against 1.5 BB/9 along the way. Floro didn’t rank among the Rays top prospects on the lists put out by Baseball America, MLB.com or Fangraphs this season but has emerged as an intriguing bullpen option for Tampa Bay.

As for Webb, he’ll hit the open market in search of a new opportunity. The 30-year-old signed a one-year, $1MM contract with Tampa Bay this winter but totaled just 17 1/3 innings of 5.19 ERA ball before being designated. Webb’s ground-ball rate dipped to a still-solid 48.4 percent, but he displayed strong control during his time with the Rays (two unintentional walks) and has a track record of limiting walks and racking up ground-balls. Webb doesn’t light up the radar gun, but he’s been a solid middle relief option for a number of years, as he’ll carry a 3.43 career ERA with per-nine-inning averages of 6.2 strikeouts and 2.8 walks to the open market along with his career 56.1 percent ground-ball rate.