De La Rosa Designated

As the Rays continue to sort out their 40-man roster, 2012 Durham Bulls stalwart Dane De La Rosa has been designated for assignment, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Unlike Brignac and Johnson, I’d guess that there’s a chance that he could pass through waivers and end up with the Bulls this year. I’m not smart enough about baseball to put any money on that guess, but it does seem possible. If so, that’s good news.

De La Rosa was, by far, the most effective short reliever the Bulls had in 2012: 54 games, 68 innings, 20 saves, ERA of 2.90 (3rd best on team), FIP of 2.73 (4th best). If he had a slight statistical weakness it was that he worked awfully hard. His pitches per out ratio was pretty high (5.78), even if nothing like the truly awful ratio of the fondly remembered Alex Torres (7.35). Charts here. Stats here.

Here’s hoping that he makes it through waivers and decides to spend the year with the Bulls. We’d love to see him coming on in the 9th inning sometime this April.