Tampa Bay Rays Release Dana Eveland

The Tampa Bay Rays are halfway through spring training and they’re starting to make moves in preparation for the regular season, and one of those moves will be the release of veteran left-handed pitcher, Dana Eveland.

The team brought back Eveland on a minor league deal with an invite to spring training after a disastrous 2016 campaign with the club in which he finished with a 9.00 ERA and a 5.89 FIP over 33 games and 23 innings pitched. However, Eveland dominated during his time in Triple-A Durham, in which he had a 0.30 ERA over 20 appearances.

He was competing for one of the Rays last remaining bullpen spots along with several other non-roster invites this spring. His release means David Carpenter, Tommy Hunter, and Diego Moreno have one less arm to contend with as Opening Day looms ever closer.

Eveland is a major league veteran of 11 seasons having spent time with the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Athletics, Blue Jays, Pirates, Dodgers, Orioles, Mets, Braves, and the Rays. He is now just two teams shy of tying Octavio Dotel’s record of number of franchises pitched for.

So far this spring, Eveland had allowed a run on six hits, registering 4.2 innings pitched over four appearances.