The Padres have requested release waivers on infielder Hector Olivera, per a club announcement. He had been formally designated for assignment back on Aug. 2, and his release will become official in 48 hours once he clears said waivers.
San Diego acquired Olivera’s contract from the Braves in exchange for Matt Kemp prior to the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, but the acquisition was a formality. The Padres very clearly wanted nothing to do with Olivera, who was finishing up an 82-game suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy at the time, and only agreed to take on his contract as a means of off-setting some of the money they were sending to Atlanta in the form of Kemp’s salary. Ultimately, the trade will save San Diego about $25.5MM, and Olivera will never suit up in a Padres uniform.
The 31-year-old Olivera’s future in Major League Baseball is questionable at best, from this point forth. Neither Atlanta nor San Diego even feigned interest in having Olivera join their active rosters following his suspension, and it stands to reason that others throughout the league will take a similar approach. Olivera was arrested at a Washington D.C.-area hotel back in April and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery of a woman who was reportedly hospitalized and had visible bruising.
While the 2016 season has seen both Aroldis Chapman and Jose Reyes land new jobs after serving suspensions under the same policy, neither wound up going to trial — Chapman was never even arrested — which very likely helped their cases. Furthermore, Olivera has never been a productive player at the minor league or Major League level. And while on-field success would in no way excuse the heinous actions for which he was arrested and charged, his chances of finding additional employment within a Major League organization would be greater had he in any way justified the ill-fated six-year, $62.5MM contract to which he was signed by the Dodgers.
If, for some reason, another club does decide to take a chance on Olivera with what would assuredly be a minor league contract, that club would be responsible only for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum for any time he spends in the Majors. (That sum would be subtracted from the remainder of what he is owed by San Diego.) However, it also seems possible that Olivera’s career in Major League Baseball has come to an abrupt end.
As a padre fan I know I’m probably in the minoroty here but I don’t think DFA’ing him is a good idea. To be honest we should have given him the A-Rod treatment, if you are going to pay the guy regardless if he suits up for you or not at least get something out of him. Throw him in AA and make him be the highest paid minor league utility guy in the game. Make him earn every penny that he stole from Los Angeles & Atlanta by riding buses and staying in crappy hotels in little po-dunk towns.
He is getting what he wants in the scenario by getting released, & paid to not play and go live the rest of his life lavishly somewhere. Idk but I just feel like the Padres could have gotten creative & done something with him.
That would’ve been fun. They actually should’ve done that.
Except minor leaguers stay in nice hotels and ride luxury buses. You must be thinking of the 1930’s. Also, there are a lot of minor league players that signed for 7 figure bonuses, own nice homes, drive nice cars, etc.
Haha. Well I worked at the aa level in the 80’s and The only lavish hotels we saw were the ones we drove by in our trailways.
Thank you for the confirmation. I hate when people try to shoot down your comment because they think they know it all. Yes, there are the first rounders in every organization that might be a little flashier than the rest of the minor leaguers in the system but usually once they blow through their signing bonus they are down to living like the rest of the guys. Peanut butter & jelly and Powerade diets, living on 1,000 bucks a month.
maybe even spice it up by giving every pitcher who hits him with a pitch a $50 gift card.. you know something under the radar but well deserved.
Ooh, that’s like totally illegal and could get guys fired. The baseball equivalent of the New Orleans Saints. Olivera isn’t worth that. Just release him and be done with him.
I don’t think teams want there young still developing players to be around a guy like Olivera but he should have a form of punishment instead of millions of dollars
I agree, and not for totally vindictive reasons. I’d have dropped him in AA for the rest of this month and seen whether legal or visa issues or anything else transpired between now and ST that the Padres FO could use to avoid paying all that Olivera’s currently owed.
I dont know if that would be a good idea….the reasoning would be placing him on ANY of our farm teams (or the big team for that matter) would only bring down morale and cause a cancerous environment in my opinion. The teams have been playing together all year (except for some callups/send downs) and try to become a team and be cohesive and gel….adding a guy like that could in many ways destroy what you have been trying to do all year. I think he would think is better than the rest, complain about playing time, blame everyone for his problems, try to alter others approach, argue with or fight the coaching staff, etc. Those possibilities would NOT be worth the point you want to send to him….nor do I think he would even get your point.
Because he would certainly be a positive influence on the younger guys in the Padre system, mmmhmm….
And he walks away with a huge pile of cash for doing essentially nothing. Sheesh.
He walked away with less cash than Kemp did for doing nothing. At least Kemp isn’t a domestic abuser.
Whether you think he was worth his pay or not, at least Kemp played a lot of baseball. Olivera, none.
Yep. They both made a lot of money to do nothing at all. At least Kemp seems to be a decent human being.
Not what I actually said, but okie dokie.
Kemp played a lot of baseball but he didn’t help his team win. It may have been better to have released him than let him hurt his team as much as Kemp did.
Reyes was charged.
Don’t pay the guy for nothing. Can he be traded to a woman’s softball league? 🙂 his obp would be in the clouds
Not sure you want him around a bunch of women…
How about the San Diego Roller Derby?They have whole teams of female competitors who’d probably love to slam Olivera to the ground repeatedly and then off of the track.
Karma has a way of working itself out.
62.5 million, so much Karma!
How will he stay in the country since he’s a defector? Shouldn’t his work visa have some conduct clause once his legal proceedings are over that leads to his deportation so that he enjoys his money back in the DR or wherever he established residency. Thank you Ned Coletti !!
He has millions of dollars he can buy a ticket to the front of the immigration line if he wants to stay in this country.
Padres would have enough at stake that it could be worth pulling a Peter Thiel and paying the alleged victim’s legal fees and reminding ICE how deporting such a visible convicted abuser could elevate its image.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
It’s too bad he gets to walk away with all of that money for barely any work at all.
One would hope that his lady friend takes him to court so that he walks away from the game with considerably less.