rolling retirees: 2018 and beyond

about all you can say is that he didn't give up many homers

stephen drew

wes wilson, a backup catcher who hit .207/.260/.259 in 226 games over seven seasons in the yankee system

hadn’t really thought about it, but i guess matt holliday is probably done. good career; too bad he pulled a mantle and slipped under .300

batting average, feh

Aaron Laffey retired after Wednesday night's game. He had an 18.00 ERA in three starts with the 51s.

— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) June 7, 2018

MLB career K/9: 4.5

1,262,200 in career earnings if fangraphs is right

After suffering two concussions in the last eight months while playing in the Detroit Tigers organization, Blaise Salter has voluntarily retired from professional baseball because he fears the long-term risks that could come from brain injuries.

He’s afraid of ending up like his grandfather, Tigers great Bill Freehan, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Salter's only 24 years old.

While this close, loving family is fiercely private and sensitive about Freehan’s condition, Salter acknowledges his grandfather’s condition played a direct role in his decision.

“We are so close,” Salter said. “Seeing him the way his health has been, it’s definitely been an eye opener for me. I saw it firsthand how concussions have affected his life. Obviously, he had way more than I did, with the lack of equipment back in the day. To see that, I really thought about my life. I wanted to do anything I could, to prevent that from happening.”

There is evidence linking brain injuries to a higher risk of developing brain conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

It is not clear how many concussions Freehan suffered during his 15-year Tigers' career, but his family suspects concussions played a role in his condition.

And it was enough for Salter to walk away from baseball.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/jeff-seidel/2018/06/07/detroit-tigers-bill-freehan-alzheimers-blaise-salter/682734002/

http://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Jayson-Werth-hairy-bobblehead.jpg

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23927548/jayson-werth-says-done-playing-pro-baseball

presumably Chase Utley

https://sports.yahoo.com/chase-utley-hold-press-conference-171946434.html

the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, luke hochevar

not a great career, but at least better than mark appel's

i don't know much about him, but why did the royals push him through their minor league system so quickly despite him never putting up good numbers?

there was some weird shit surrounding his drafting -- dodgers took him in the first round in '05, he agreed to sign then changed his mind, then played indy ball in early '06. he didn't sign with the royals until he was almost 23. high-end college pitchers are *supposed* to move quickly, and he made his big league debut a week short of turning 24, but . . . yeah i dunno. probably some combination of the royals being terrible at player development + the fact that hochevar insisted on an MLB contract and was therefore already on the 40-man roster

sometimes when a guy like that retires i like to see how much money he raked in for his career.

answer: just shy of 25 million

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24380190/brandon-mccarthy-atlanta-braves-retire-end-season

ryan howard

Had no idea he wasn't already retired.

maybe he was hoping to pull a matt holliday but no one called

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dm_RhIrU4AAMM3k.jpg:small

They said it could never be done

a 6.66 K/9 would have been the icing on the cake but I shouldn’t quibble

david wright, after one final home series

Online prices for his presumed last start on 9/29 have skyrocketed in the last few minutes. (I already am going to the NY Film Festival that night.)

actually, not technically retiring but being medically sidelined a la prince fielder

Gulp.

https://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2018/09/victor_martinez_retirement_1.html

reliever brad ziegler

a little surprising as he was still doing alright and getting saves this year.

Ike Davis has retired https://t.co/ciETMhLWTd

— HardballTalk (@HardballTalk) November 6, 2018

noted former pirate

Joe Mauer

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25228494/joe-mauer-retire-15-seasons-minnesota-twins

Utley.

At one point I would have thought both those guys were headed for the hall.

they still might be

It's really too bad that the Twins never won anything with Mauer, they had some good teams but seemed to choke against the Yankees every year. Even with all his injuries he had a hell of a career.

our beloved adrian beltre

:( :( :(

nooooooo

bartolo : is now the last active* player who played in the majors in the 20th century

huh.

P sure Armando Benitez is playing in Mexico still

catcher dan butler, after 768 minor league games

played in seven games for the red sox in 2014 and two more this year, going 5-for-25 with three doubles and throwing out three of eight attempted base stealers. he was never drafted

THANK YOU... pic.twitter.com/CzhaoU9YUH

— Mike Napoli (@MikeNapoli25) December 8, 2018

Only reached 140 games twice--I don't know if he was the most productive long-term part-time hitter of the past couple of decades, but he must be close (including one monster season in 2011: .320/.414/.631, 30 HR and 5.5 WAR in 113 games).

I really wish the Jays had hung onto him after the Wells deal, instead of flipping him for a reliever who’s name time has forgotten.

reliever tom wilhelmsen, officially

outfielder colby rasmus, unofficially

Alfredo Amezaga (who will join Atlanta as a coach)

awesome

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l135&t=p_pbp&pid=150119

Jaime Garcia, 32 years old

https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/news/jaime-garcia-expected-to-retire-from-mlb/c-302541372

you wouldn't know from looking at his stats, but he really did have some exceptional stuff. sometimes it really seemed like he was throwing a wiffle ball out there. alas, he was almost always injured or recovering from an injury.

i just learned that he and Fernando Valenzuela were the only two pitchers born in Mexico to start in a world series.

former red sox third baseman of the future will middlebrooks

Willie Midds was basically a nicer, crappier Shea Hillenbrand

What was that weird Yankees postseason version

That dead cat bounce where he was doing the giambi on cleveland golf-at-everything was fun

xp that was the cardinals devil magic that he withheld at a crucial time. but i was glad to see it was still in there!

forgot about this truly all-time matt carpenter moment. this is peak matt carpenter experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGsfhjYLQF0

tony kemp

kolten wong

jean segura

Jake Diekman

josh harrison

whit merrifield

unofficially: i recently noticed that adalberto mondesi hasn't played in the minors or foreign leagues since he played 15 games for KC then tore his ACL in 2022.

he was hot shit there for a little while; too bad he didn't even get to the majors until he was 27 (and therefore never made more than $7m a year)

you look at his numbers and it's sort of wild he only topped 4 WAR once in his career.
led the league in hits twice, SB three times, doubles once, triples once, topped out at 19 home runs one year and had a few season in the teens for HR. if he'd played in the 80's he would have been a legend.

NOT 40yo97do free agent David Robertson:

1.7 bWAR/1.8 fWAR for the 2024 Texas Rangers (34H, 2SV, 3W-3L, 99K/72IP, 33.4%K-rate)

Trying to think who else is out there in limbo-land...

Lance Lynn? JD Martinez?

Lance Lynn said he was retiring I thought

says who?

Lance Lynn

― triste et cassé (gyac), Tuesday, April 1, 2025 8:41 AM (three months ago)

Kyle Gibson, who won 112 games when I was busy looking over there.

a candidate for 'worst single-game performance to end a career'

not that i have any idea how to produce such a list, even if i wanted to

(also a candidate for worst free-agent signing for a team that was supposed to contend in 2025)

His exit ERA (16.78) must be up there too.

12.1 IP...29 hits!

2.92 WHIP means you're essentially loading the bases every inning... well, except opponents were also slugging .938 off him.

1.431 OPS allowed is wild. As expected (see Verlander thread): fWAR is much, much kinder to this atrocious flameout of a career than bWAR.

Someone who is yet to retire: 45yo Rich Hill starting tomorrow for the Royals against the Cubs lets goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jesse Chavez (41), the most traded player in MLB history, has retired. FIVE (5) separate stints with the Braves.

also nick ahmed, 35

old-school genuinely bad (big-league) hitter, but turned strong defense into a 12-year career

2018 & 2019, his two gold glove seasons, he had a WAR of 3.8 & 4 while batting an OPB+ of 88 (and not even really stealing bases)

Two time world series winner Alex Wood.

anthony rizzo!

it sucked that he was vocal against the covid vaccine, especially as a cancer survivor, but i always like him as a cub and he was a much more personable "face of the team" guy than kris bryant

whoa! the ultimate 'stands on top of the plate' guy

I believe I'm a minority of one who thought he deserved a little bit more blame for the botched World Series play last year.

Clayton Kershaw (after this season).

Good.

Same word I'd use, although I'm pretty sure we mean different things.

Emmanuel Clase?

Meaning he retired, or he was "retired" in the deadbeat-gambler/Goodfellas sense?

(A very tastless joke I only make because I know that's not true.)

Hector Gomez is reporting that Emmanuel Clase may never pitch in the MLB again following his gambling scandal. The evidence against him is allegedly too damning.

It appears that he's not allowed to play the Dominican Winter leagues as well.

Kyle Hendricks.

didn't expect this: Erik Swanson. only 32, but coming off two injury-filled, less than stellar seasons (incl missing time after his son was hot by a car). but was lights out before that. thought he was the next closer after his first season with the jays when they got him for Teo