Some moves were made to accommodate the return of injured players from the 60 day DL.
I mentioned last week that a roster crunch was coming. Today is the day that the first bit of that crunch came. Five players (Casey Kelly, Cory Luebke, Yonder Alonso, Ryan Jackson and Carlos Quentin) all had to come of the 60 day DL today. There was only 1 roster spot open (vacated by free agent Tim Stauffer). That meant either finding rosters spots for them or designated them for assignment.
The Padres officially announced the moves today. Adam Moore was designated for assignment, but refused outright assignment and became a free agent. Ryan Jackson was designated for assignment and claimed by the Los Angeles Dodgers (no doubt looking for SS depth in case Hanley Ramirez leaves or gets hurt again). The Padres also designated Eric Stults and Donn Roach for assignment. Neither was claimed. Both were a bit of a surprise.
I think many knew that Stults' time was coming. While he's been an innings eater for a couple of seasons, he is in the later part of his arbitration years and is getting a bit pricey when compared to the other younger, better, cheaper arms the Padres have.
Donn Roach was already a surprise this year. He was a surprise addition to the opening day roster. When Josh Johnson got hurt and Robbie Erlin was pushed into the rotation, Roach got a spot in the bullpen as a long man. Injuries hurt his 2014 campaign after that, but one would think he still has some promise. The moves came in lieu of designating unproven guys like Keyvius Sampson and Juan Pablo Oramas. Both of which made sense to me because they have success in AAA despite some attempts and have injury histories to boot. This may just be a reprieve for them however, because by November 20 the team will need to make some moves to put players on the 40 man roster that they want to protect from the Rule 5 draft (like possibly Taylor Lindsey, Stephen Kohlscheen, Jonathan Galvez, Rico Noel, Chris Rearick, Cody Decker, James Needy and/or Alex Dickerson). And then obviously they will need more roster space if they want to sign any free agents.
As of now both Stults and Roach are in a state of limbo. Roach will likely go through waivers and if no one claims him, then I expect the Padres will assign him to a minor league team. Stults will likely be released and become a free agent at some point so that he can pursue opportunities with other teams.