NL Beat: Diamondbacks cut ties with Russ Ortiz

The Arizona Diamondbacks decided Tuesday they would rather eat the remaining $22 million of Russ Ortiz' contract than keep him on their roster.

The club designated the struggling right-hander for assignment, which means it has 10 days to trade, waive or release him. The team is on the hook for the balance of the $33 million, four-year contract Ortiz signed in December 2004, a figure general manager Josh Byrnes said was close to $22 million.

Ortiz, 32, was 0-5 with a 7.54 earned-run average in six starts for Arizona this season, and he was 1-14 in his last 19 starts dating to last May.

"We're like most clubs: every dollar counts. You want to spend them as effectively as possible," Byrnes said at a Chase Field news conference. "That affected the decision, but we also were true to ourselves, and we want to put our best 25 on the field and try to win games. That led us to our decision.

"We have to spend all our dollars wisely, and obviously we owe Russ a lot of money going forward," Byrnes said. "The flip side is we probably have more young talent than anyone in baseball, and that's a good thing as managing the payroll," Byrnes said.

The club purchased the contract of left-hander Randy Choate from Class AAA Tucson.

Chicago: C Michael Barrett said Friday is a potential date for him to finally have his appeal of a 10-game suspension heard by Major League Baseball officials. Barrett was suspended May 26 for his role in a brawl with the White Sox six days earlier when he punched his catching counterpart A.J. Pierzynski. Barrett's play has been unaffected by his pending suspension, one he hopes to have reduced. He was batting .295 before Tuesday night and hit .371 during a recent three-city trip. "I don't like having it hang over my head. I'd like to deal with this and go ahead and get this thing over with and move on," Barrett said.

Milwaukee: Manager Ned Yost dropped slumping RF Geoff Jenkins from third to seventh in the batting order Tuesday. Jenkins was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and two walks Monday and had six hits in his last 41 at bats (.146).

Philadelphia: Randy Wolf isn't expected to miss his next rehabilitation start despite getting hit on the left hand by a line drive that forced him out of his second rehab start with Class A Clearwater.

Pittsburgh: OF Chris Duffy ended a monthlong walkout, reported to the Pirates' extended spring training camp in Bradenton, Fla., and will be assigned to AAA Indianapolis once he returns to playing shape. ... 3B Joe Randa was activated by the Pirates after missing six weeks because of a bruised right foot.

San Diego: Closer Eric Gagne was placed on the 15-day DL because of stiffness in his surgically repaired pitching elbow. The RHP went on the DL retroactive to June 7, the day after his second appearance of the season. Gagne had surgery April 7 to remove a nerve from his right elbow.

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