Padres unconditionally release Olivera

PITTSBURGH -- The Padres requested unconditional release waivers on Héctor Olivera, who was designated for assignment last week after being acquired from Atlanta for Matt Kemp.
The release waivers -- which mean Olivera will be officially released after a 48-hour window -- for Olivera confirm that he'll almost certainly never play a game for San Diego. When the Padres acquired the 31-year-old outfielder from the Braves, he was serving an 82-game suspension for violating the league's domestic violence policy. The Padres immediately designated him for assignment upon his return from suspension.
Olivera's impending departure solidifies the Kemp trade as a deal with the sole purpose of financial flexibility. The move saved the Padres about $32 million in salary.
"We got to a point, financially, with the Braves, that it was a situation that we could use that money down the road -- re-allocate it to our big league club, re-allocate it to the amateur market," said Padres general manager A.J. Preller after the July 30 deal.
In April, Olivera was charged with a misdemeanor count of assault and battery, after a female reported to authorities that she had been assaulted at the Braves' hotel in Arlington, Va. That case is still pending.
In 30 career Major League games, Olivera has batted .245 with two homers and a .674 OPS. He signed a six-year deal with the Dodgers before the 2015 season.
Worth noting
• Injured Padres center fielder Jon Jay likely will not make the trip with the team to New York this weekend. Instead, Jay will return to San Diego where he'll resume baseball activities and could take swings for the first time since he sustained a broken right forearm in June.
Padres manager Andy Green said Jay will need to be checked out by a doctor one more time before he can begin swinging, and the Padres remain hopeful that Jay can return before the end of the month.
• On Tuesday night, the Padres were twice snakebitten by reviews on plays that looked like surefire outs to the naked eye. On the first, José Rondón didn't keep his foot on the second-base bag while turning a double play. On the second, Ryan Schimpf missed Josh Harrison with a swipe tag.
Green said Wednesday that he had discussions within the organization to make sure that the Padres' Minor League affiliates are cognizant of the replay process at the Major League level -- even though it doesn't apply in the Minors.
"We have to really do a better job, even if it costs us at the Minor League level, of holding the bag longer and holding our tags longer, and driving tags through guys," Green said. "Those are things that you've just got to clean up as an organization."