To make room for newly acquired Ryan Roberts, the Rays have designed Hideki Matsui for assignment. Matsui had just a .195 wOBA and an 18 wRC+ in 103 plate appearances this season and had not had an extra base hit since doubling in the 13-4 victory over the Marlins on June 9th.

Aside from the two home runs that he hit in his first three games, Matsui's entire time on the roster a struggle as he was a shell of his former greatness that had to cheat on pitches to try to make solid contact with them. His lack of contributions were particularly penalizing to the Rays in July as he drove in just one of the 26 runners that were on base during his plate appearances failing several times with the bases loaded and recording the final out of the game seven different times.

The Designated Hitter role could be filled by Brooks Conrad until Luke Scott returns or be used as a day off from the field as it was last night when B.J. Upton filled the role.