CLEVELAND -- Jose Mesa pitched in the first game at Jacobs Field 13 years ago before his career took off as a closer. It might well be where he pitched his last game in the Majors.

The Tigers made room to activate Fernando Rodney off the disabled list by releasing Mesa on Sunday, closing what was an unsuccessful stint as a supporting reliever for someone who was one of baseball's best closers a decade ago.

Mesa, who turned 41 years old on May 22, signed a $2.5 million contract with the Tigers last December to add depth to one of baseball's best bullpens. Detroit planned on having the 19-year veteran handle sixth- and seventh-inning duties to take some of the workload off of setup men Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney.

Right from the outset, however, the plan never seemed to work for various reasons. Mesa was unavailable for the season's first couple of games while serving a suspension for hitting batters last September for Colorado. After four appearances, he went on the 15-day disabled list with a groin strain.

Once he returned in early May, the Tigers lost Zumaya to a ruptured tendon in his middle finger, causing a reshuffling of the bullpen and pushing Mesa into more late-inning work. Rodney went on the DL a few weeks later, and in the mixing and matching that followed, Mesa seemed to get lost.

"I don't think he probably got the opportunities that he needed to get to be sharp," manager Jim Leyland said. "I really don't know the answer. We just are in a situation where we had to make a decision, and we decided to go a different direction. I hope that he continues to pitch."

Opponents scored on Mesa in six of his 16 appearances. Each time, he surrendered multiple runs, capped by a four-run eighth inning Thursday against the Indians to raise his ERA to 12.34. He went 1-1 with three holds, but six of his final eight appearances involved finishing out games in which the Tigers were trailing. Of the exceptions, he saw a four-run lead whittled to one against him on May 23 against the Angels.

"I think just the little bit that I got to pitch here, I didn't do my job," Mesa said. "Plain and simple."

It was a far cry from the performances he often put up in Cleveland during the mid-90s. Mesa was baseball's dominant closer in 1995, saving 46 games while surrendering just eight earned runs over 64 innings to help lead the Indians to the World Series.

He was Cleveland's man in the ninth inning when the Indians went back to the World Series in 1997. He took the mound in the ninth inning of Game 7 with a one-run lead on Leyland's Florida Marlins when a pair of singles set up Craig Counsell's game-tying sacrifice fly. When Florida won it in the 11th off Charles Nagy, Mesa became the scapegoat.

Cleveland traded Mesa a year later, starting him on a journeyman track that took him to six teams over the next 10 seasons. Yet he regained his role as a dominant closer with back-to-back 40-save seasons for Philadelphia.

"It's a very difficult day for me because of who he is and what he's done," Leyland said. "At the same time, it's not really like releasing some kid from Double-A who's never going to get a chance. This is a guy that's been a tremendous, tremendous pitcher, a total professional who's had a great career, has made some money.

"This one hurts, but that's the way it is."

Mesa said he'll spend some time looking to see what other opportunities are out there.

"If not, I'll just go home and relax," he said. "I've been playing long enough. If it ends today, I'm happy with it."

The Tigers will pay the remainder of Mesa's salary this year unless another team signs him, in which case that team will pick up a prorated portion of the Major League minimum.

Rodney was placed on the 15-day DL last week with right biceps tendinitis. He's eligible to be activated on Tuesday ahead of the Tigers' series opener at Texas. He has a 1-4 record and a 4.71 ERA in 19 appearances this year.

Rodney was cleared to return after throwing a pain-free side session on Sunday. He gives the Tigers' depleted bullpen a dedicated setup man again to work the eighth inning, leaving Leyland one less inning in which to mix and match.

"It enables me to pitch fewer guys and keep everybody fresher," Leyland said. "It's also good because if you use Rodney for two days in a row, now you can feel like you can mix and match in the eighth inning without getting [guys] worn out."

Mesa will no longer be part of that mix.

"There's nothing I can do," he said. "I got a little bit of a chance to pitch here, and I didn't do my job. I'm disappointed that I didn't do my job, but life's got to go on."