Olerud, 35, Is Released by the Mariners

First baseman John Olerud, a former American League batting champion, was released Friday by the Seattle Mariners.

Olerud was batting .245 with five homers and 22 runs batted in in 77 games when he was designated for assignment last week. He was in the last year of his contract, earning $7.7 million this season.

Olerud, 35, hit a league-leading .363 with Toronto in 1993, when the Blue Jays won the World Series.

The Mariners tried to trade Olerud but couldn’t work out a deal. They were able to deal shortstop Rich Aurilia to San Diego this week after designating him for assignment.

Manager Bob Melvin said that he expects Olerud to sign with a team as a free agent.

Out of contention in the AL West, the Mariners want to look at some of their top minor league prospects, such as first baseman-designated hitter Bucky Jacobsen.

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Magglio Ordonez of the Chicago White Sox went back on the disabled list because of an injured left knee and could spend up to eight weeks on crutches, putting in doubt his status for the rest of the season.

Ordonez has a fluid problem in his knee, stemming from a collision the All-Star right fielder had with second baseman Willie Harris on May 19 in Cleveland.

Ordonez went on the 15-day disabled list a week after the collision and had surgery because of torn cartilage on June 5.

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The Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants will play a doubleheader at San Francisco on Aug. 18 to make up a game rained out in Puerto Rico. The teams originally planned to make up the May 23 game -- an Expo home game in San Juan -- by playing at Montreal on Aug. 9.

But travel difficulties for both teams persuaded Major League Baseball to schedule a doubleheader on the final day of what was a three-game series.

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The Chicago Cubs began a thorough inspection of the concrete on the underside of Wrigley Field’s upper deck after a team employee found a third piece of concrete that apparently fell from the 90-year-old park’s upper deck.

After concrete chunks fell at different spots on June 9 and July 16, a team employee found a fragment that was “relatively small, palm-of-your-hand” sized, said Mike Lufrano, the Cubs’ vice president for community affairs.