WASHINGTON -- One day after saying he was leaning toward starting Triple-A left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo on Saturday in Pittsburgh, Dodgers manager Grady Little said Thursday the only thing he was leaning toward was not making an announcement yet.

Kuo makes sense for the start because he would be pitching on his regular five-day cycle. In his last start for Las Vegas, he threw four scoreless innings, then allowed four earned runs and couldn't finish the fifth inning.

Little implied that one reason for being non-committal is the repercussions a callup would have on his current club. If Kuo or D.J. Houlton were promoted, it would likely mean the demotion of another player, perhaps infielders Andy LaRoche or Tony Abreu. By declaring a promotion, it would leave the demotion candidates wondering if each at-bat might be their last.

Those two rookies are part of an unwieldy three-way rotation with Wilson Betemit at third base. For Thursday night's game with the Nationals, LaRoche started at third base after spending the early pregame taking fly balls in right field. Little would not even commit to shifting to a 12-man pitching staff, although that's what he indicated earlier in the week.

Little said one of his pitchers volunteered to pitch on three days' rest. That would be the streaking Brad Penny, who would move up from Sunday to Saturday. Little said that happening was "not likely." Conceivably, if Penny and Derek Lowe each pitched on three days' rest, Jason Schmidt could be activated to pitch Monday on his five-day cycle.

Among other candidates to start Saturday are Chad Billingsley and even Brett Tomko, who would have been the scheduled starter if he hadn't been sent to the bullpen.

Bye-bye Bigbie: Triple-A outfielder Larry Bigbie has an escape clause in his contract that allows him to declare for free agency on Friday, which he has indicated he will do. He also had an escape at the end of Spring Training, but he waived it in hopes of a Major League promotion that never came.

"I'm going to take the out for sure this time," Bigbie wrote in an e-mail. "I need to explore the market and see if anything is out there."

There were indications that the Oakland A's and a Japanese team might have interest in Bigbie, who is hitting .349 with three homers and 14 RBIs in 34 games for Las Vegas.

Pentagon visit: A large contingent of club officials and players visited the Pentagon on Thursday and received a tour arranged through a friend of Little and his wife, Debi. Included in the group were Nomar Garciaparra, Luis Gonzalez, Randy Wolf and Mark Hendrickson. The tour made stops at the office of Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Vice Chief of Staff General Richard Cody and Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley.

Dominican donation: The Dodgers will donate one 40-foot bus to the Asociación de Cronistas Deportivos de la Republica Dominicana, Inc., which is the association of sports writers in the Dominican Republic, according to Tommy Lasorda, Dodgers special advisor to the chairman. Following last year's donation of three busses to the Dominican Republic, this donation is being made in an ongoing attempt to help the region and its people.

Lasorda obtained the bus from the Los Angeles County Metro Transit Authority with the assistance of Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge, 4th District. In exchange for the bus, Lasorda addressed the MTA and the Los Angeles Gateway chapter of the National Contract Management Association on Thursday.

The Asociación de Cronistas Deportivos de la Republica Dominicana, Inc., is a group of sports writers who cover sporting events throughout the country. Last year's buses were donated to Futuro Vivo, a school in the Dominican Republic that is located in Santo Domingo and was adopted and supported by the Dodgers. The school offers education, nutrition and medical assistance to more than 500 underprivileged children.

Coming up: Wolf (6-3, 3.41) opposes Zach Duke (2-5, 5.55) on Friday at 4:05 p.m. PT in the opener of a four-game set with the Pirates in Pittsburgh.