Padres designate veteran slugger Nelson Cruz for assignment

Even a seven-time All-Star can be designated for assignment.

That’s what happened to Nelson Cruz on Tuesday.

The struggling Padres designated the 43-year-old veteran slugger for assignment on Tuesday.

The designated hitter, who signed a $1 million one-year contract in the offseason, was hitting .245 with a .283 on-base percentage.

He had five homers and 23 RBIs.

Before the Padres’ 8-5 win over Angels, San Diego manager Bob Melvin said it was a “tough” decision to designate Cruz, who has been a respected leader on the team.

“He’s a big impact in the clubhouse,” Melvin said, according to MLB.com. “Across the board, throughout the league, the respect that he brings, playing against him from afar, it’s fantastic. He comes as advertised — leadership, all of the above.

“I think it’s more about versatility here now. We have a couple guys in he and [former Yankee Matt Carpenter] that basically just DH. We needed to be able to give some guys some days off a little bit more, need a runner off the bench, need to have a little bit more versatility. So unfortunately, we had to make this move today.”

The Padres scored five runs in five innings off Shohei Ohtani, who left the game with a blister on the middle finger of his right hand.

Ohtani also said he won’t pitch in the All-Star Game, but still may hit.

This Ohtani injury comes on the heels of Mike Trout being placed on the injured list Tuesday after he was diagnosed with a fracture of the hamate bone in his left hand.

He could miss more than a month, but anticipates he will be back before the end of the season.

— with AP