THURSDAY, 4:43pm: Ortiz elected free agency, tweets Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times.
SUNDAY, 2:00pm: The Dodgers have designated veteran Russ Ortiz for assignment, according to a tweet from Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News.
MLB.com's Ken Gurnick adds that rookie Jon Link, acquired from the White Sox in the Juan Pierre trade, will be recalled for the time being. His stay could be short, as Hong-Chih Kuo and Ronald Belisario will likely be activated from the disabled list this week. Asked if he would accept a minor league assignment, Ortiz said that he would if it was with the purpose of being recalled later in the season.
Ortiz, 35, appeared in six games for the Dodgers, and posted unimpressive numbers to say the least. The right-hander totaled seven innings, while walking six batters and allowing ten hits and eight earned runs.
The former Giants ace has struggled with elbow injuries since putting together a solid four-year stretch in the early part of the decade. From 2001 to 2004, Ortiz compiled a 3.71 ERA over 850 innings for San Francisco and Atlanta, including a fourth place finish in the 2003 Cy Young voting for the Braves.
