THURSDAY: Farnsworth has officially elected free agency, according to Marc Carig of Newsday (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 10:36pm: Farnsworth’s 45-day period actually was not set to expire until this Saturday, tweets Marc Carig of Newsday. Either way, of course, the cost savings were likely an element in the decision.

10:03pm: Farnsworth has actually been outrighted, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post (links to Twitter). The veteran clearly indicated that he intends to refuse the assignment to Triple-A, telling reporters that he hopes to find a new club that will allow him to “play against this team.”

Farnsworth also added that today was the last day for the team to release him without guaranteeing him a full season’s worth of pay, based upon the advance-consent clause contained in his contract. As Rubin tweets, the Mets will avoid owing Farnsworth about $750K for the rest of the season.

9:53pm: The Mets have released reliever Kyle Farnsworth, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). As Adam Rubin of ESPN.com tweeted earlier today, a reliever appeared to be on the way out with lefty Josh Edgin being brought into two for “possible activation.”

Farnsworth, 38, had served as the club’s closer at times this year, and carried a 3.18 ERA through 17 innings. The veteran righty sports a 5.29 K/9 against 3.18 BB/9 to go with a 35.2% groundball rate on the year. That strikeout rate falls well below his career average of 8.80 K/9, continuing a precipitous decline in that mark in recent years for Farnsworth. Over 977 career MLB innings, Farnsworth has a 4.24 ERA.