The Athletics released infielder Akinori Iwamura, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Iwamura would have filed for free agency a month from now anyway, but it makes sense to remove him from the 40-man roster now.
Iwamura, 31, was acquired by the Pirates from the Rays for Jesse Chavez in November. The Bucs exercised Iwamura's $4.85MM option as part of the deal, making him their highest-paid player. He was terrible for the Pirates and was designated for assignment by June. Iwamura was released in September and signed with the A's. He'll need to rebuild value with a minor league deal.
