SAN DIEGO -- The Padres designated outfielder Héctor Olivera for assignment on Tuesday. As expected, the move takes place on the day Olivera comes off the suspended list.
The Padres acquired Olivera on Saturday in a trade with Atlanta for outfielder Matt Kemp. At the time, Olivera was serving an 82-game suspension for violating the league's domestic violence policy and could not be designated.
The Padres now have 10 days either trade Olivera, release him or outright him to the Minor Leagues. Sources have said it's unlikely Olivera will play a game for San Diego.
Saturday's trade for Olivera essentially freed up $32 million for the Padres. Olivera is owed about $30 million over the remainder of his deal, while San Diego owed Kemp about $62 million.
"What the deal stems to, for us, is financial flexibility," Padres general manager A.J. Preller said on Saturday. "I think we got to a point, financially, with the Braves, that it was a situation that we could use that money down the road -- reallocate it to our big league club, reallocate it to the amateur market."
In 2015, Olivera signed a six-year, $62.5 million contract with the Dodgers, but he was traded to Atlanta last July. In 30 career Major League games, Olivera batted .245 with two homers and a .674 OPS.
In April, Olivera was charged with a misdemeanor count of assault and battery after a female alerted authorities that she had been assaulted at the Braves' hotel in Arlington, Va. That case is still pending.