Blue Jays release slugger Guerrero

Vladimir Guerrero became a free agent after the Toronto Blue Jays granted the nine-time All-Star's request to be released from his minor-league contract, the Major League Baseball (MLB) team said on Tuesday.

The former American League Most Valuable Player, who signed a minor-league deal with Toronto last month, had a .303 batting average in eight games with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League.

The 37-year-old slugger has not played in the major leagues since hitting .290 with 13 home runs and 63 runs batted in last season for the Baltimore Orioles.

In his 16-year MLB career, Guerrero has a .318 batting average and 449 home runs, which is tied for 35th on the all-time list.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)