PITTSBURGH — Masumi Kuwata, the 39-year-old former Japanese star who finally reached his goal this season of pitching in the major leagues, was designated for assignment Tuesday by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates have 10 days to trade him, release him or send him to the minors outright. He has been offered him a spot at Triple-A Indianapolis but may choose to retire.

"I don't know yet, I haven't decided yet," Kuwata said. "I'm happy to have pitched in the major leagues. Also, I had a great experience in the States, in the major leagues, but I don't know about the future."

In several other moves, the Pirates put catcher-outfielder Ryan Doumit on the 15-day disabled list because of a sprained wrist and shifted left-hander Zach Duke (elbow) from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. They also purchased the contracts of infielder Matt Kata and catcher Carlos Maldonado from Indianapolis.

Doumit was hurt while trying to catch a fly ball Monday night against San Francisco.

Duke, the Pirates' opening day starter, could rejoin the Pirates sometime in September if no problems develop in his rehabilitation. Duke (3-7, 5.79 ERA) hasn't pitched since a 9-7 loss to Florida on June 28.

Duke has spent the last six weeks rehabilitating at the Pirates' spring training camp in Bradenton, Fla., and had been expected to pitch in a Gulf Coast League game this week. He is eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list on Aug. 28, but he won't be ready for the majors by then.

"He threw a 30-pitch bullpen session today (Tuesday) and said he felt good," general manager Dave Littlefield said.

Kuwata, tied to the Yomiuri Giants for his entire career in Japan because of complicated contract issues, was finally allowed to pursue a job with a major league team when the Giants cut him last season. He won 173 games in his Japanese career but had pitched ineffectively since 2003.

Kuwata, who won only nine games in his final four Japanese seasons, had lost much of the velocity off his fastball by the time he signed a minor league contract with the Pirates during the offseason.

After being out nearly two months with a severe ankle injury caused when he collided with umpire Wally Bell during a spring training game, the right-handed Kuwata was called up in June and had a 2.53 ERA in his first nine Pirates appearances.

But with Kuwata unable to throw his fastball much higher than the mid-80 mph range, hitters began to adjust and he was scored upon in eight of his final 10 appearances.

"You do get to a point in time at 39 years of age that there's some things you'd like to be doing a lot better than you're physically capable of doing," manager Jim Tracy said.