The Rays designated right-handed reliever Adam Russell for assignment, tweets Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. In a series of moves, the Rays designated Russell, placed Juan Cruz and Jose Lobaton on the DL, and promoted Alex Cobb, Alex Torres, and Robinson Chirinos. The removal of Russell from the 40-man roster drops the team's count to 38.
Russell, 28, posted a 3.03 ERA, 3.6 K/9, 5.5 BB/9, 0.55 HR/9, and 53.2% groundball rate in 32 2/3 innings for the Rays this year. Armed with a 94 mile per hour fastball, Russell failed to tally strikeouts in his Rays stint. Drafted by the White Sox in 2004, Russell was dealt to the Padres in the Jake Peavy deal and later headed to Tampa Bay in the Jason Bartlett trade.
