Venezuelan infielder Luis Gonzalez, who has been handed a one-year suspension due a doping violation, was released from the Yomiuri Giants on Friday.
The Central League club filed for the termination of the 28-year-old's contract with the baseball commissioner's office after a drug test conducted by Nippon Professional Baseball had found that Gonzalez had taken three banned stimulants.
The suspension, which went into effect on May 26, was for taking stimulants clobenzorex, amphetamine and parahydroxyamfetamine, which are on the list of banned substances in Japanese baseball.