players that need to retire RIGHT NOW!

inspired by Griffey. who else should hang 'em up?

Chipper, prob'ly.

i love him, but: Stairs.

possibly Tejada.

Pudge, Randy Winn & Cory Patterson.

I thought Pudge was awesome this year...?

Andruw Jones

Why should Pudge retire? He's actually playing pretty well.

Steven Strasburg

trevor hoffman

Garret Anderson

^ yes! otm. he was the reason i thought of this thread last night, and i'd totally forgotten when i started it!

Pudge was doing great before - surprise, surprise - he got hurt. 20 games in 2010 does not erase 3 years of decline followed by 3 lost seasons.

Pedro Feliz
Benji Molina
Garrett Atkins
Todd Helton
Kaz Matsui
Julio Lugo
Alex Cora
Mark Grudzielanek
Mike Lamb
Cesar Izturis
Omar Vizquel
Miguel Tejada
Wes Helms
Willy Taveras
Gary Matthews Jr.
Jason Michaels
Tony Gwynn Jr.

Gil Meche
Tim Wakefield
Kyle Lohse
Freddy Garcia
Dontrelle Willis
Charlie Haeger
Chad Gaudin
Doug Davis
Vicente Padilla
Ramon Ortiz
Oliver Perez
Carlos Zambrano
Joe Blanton
Octavio Dotel
Mark Hendrickson

"Pudge was doing great before - surprise, surprise - he got hurt. 20 games in 2010 does not erase 3 years of decline followed by 3 lost seasons."

Okay, but he was still a better than replacement catcher even in those years of decline. The catcher bar is really really low.

compared to his career numbers the last few years have been an embarrassment for Pudge. replacement level talk doesn't really hold water when you're so far below what you used to achieve.

He still has value is all I'm saying. Unlike Ken Griffey or Matt Stairs for example.

Brandon Wood

The dude that has crawled out of the waste bin to be actually effective this year suprise for me is Levan Hernandez. Hopefully he goes back to the 5.50 ERA starting tomorrow night against the Reds, but I was suprised to see his stat line so far this year.

Kerry Wood is pretty bad, but he throws hard enough that will continue to have job for a bit longer.

ollie perez

Nelson Cruz' hamstrings.

damn im racking my brane and couldnt come up with follie p

Bryce Harper

No one say Jamie Moyer. He'll pitch till he's 60

Todd Helton is an interesting case. We haven't given up on him yet, and he's still OBPing .379 this season. But he's a light singles hitter now, he's not a no. 3 (or no. 5, where Tracy has also played him). He's a no. 2 (but has no speed) or a number 7 - I favour the latter, and optimistically any ageing he's likely to do over the next three years - and I am excepting the elephant in the room, which is his chronic back problems - is not going to adversely affect the things he does well.

There's a strong sense that he'll know when it's time to quit and not do a Griffey and hang on way longer than he should. But seeing as he signed an extension earlier this year to take him to the end of 2013, it's obvious he didn't feel that time was close a couple of months ago.

ya - i only agreed with maybe half of the players on polys lists. Helton was one that i'd never thought about much as a retirement candidate. even if he's lost the HR swing, i still see him as being an asset somewhat. how's his D?

I mean, for one thing, I don't think anyone should feel obliged to retire. I think players should play until they don't want to play anymore or until no team wants to hire them.

I picked Helton because he is a first baseman with a .327 slugging percentage.

Helton:

2010 $17,775,000
2011 $19,100,000
2012 $23,000,000

hahaha, that makes zito look like a bargain.

yikes! i wouldn't retire either!

Those figures for Helton's contract are wrong, fwiw:

2010: $16.6m
2011: $10.7m
2012: $4.9m
2013: $5m
2014 - 2023: $1.3m per year

Todd's D is still excellent, and he's perhaps the best first base ball-scooper in baseball.

Helton's UZR suggests he is a completely average defensive 1B in recent seasons fwiw:

2010: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=1b&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2010&month=0
2009: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=1b&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2009&month=0

UZR is basically useless for 1B though.

dont tell that to JT Snow!!!

Like JT was just a stathead defensive fav lol

Huh, I got those salaries from ESPN I think, I wonder why they were so wrong.

The last year was an option that was never going to be taken up, and he renegotiated his contract at the start of this season to extend by two years and defer $13m from 2011 for a cushy retirement, in turn freeing up enough salary for the Rox to resign Francis/De La Rosa/AN Other at the end of this season.

Didnt he have a slow start last year too or was that they year before?

The year before he had a long-term back injury and had easily the worst season of his career. Last season he was one of the few pluses in a terrible start, and he just kept performing.

Todd Helton.

Seems harsh seeing as he's been on the DL for the last week (not saying you're necessarily wrong, mind, especially considering how much we'd save if he did)

(Yes, I have a special "Todd Helton" alert that enables me to rebuff negativity in seconds. Not really)

and can we agree on Ivan Rodriguez now?!

xpost ha ha! i didn't realize he was dl'd until today when i saw an error on Giambi at 1st and wondered where Helton was

I think he's probably crocked for good, though he might still be able to produce OBP at a reasobale rate when he's "fit" again. What makes me o_O is the thought that I'm sadly shaking my head about his ancientness and decrepitude when I'm the same age as he is. Sigh.

i'm starting to enter that territory too. *sigh*

not performance related but holy shiiiit

Ben Sheets needed Tommy John surgery to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Sheets also had the flexor and pronator tendons in his elbow repaired. The surgery was performed by Dallas-based orthopedist Dr. Keith Meister on Monday.

Does Tommy John get royalties when someone gets his surgery?

they could probably use his right arm as an extra in the next "saw"

Is Mark C following the Rockies from the UK? Or does he live here now?

He is Eric Young Jr., actually.

Ben Sheets: I'd also tear couple of ligaments and use the resulting paste as a spread between two intact tendons.

I am following from the UK. It makes actually watching the games a pain in the arse - I see maybe one in seven, usually sundays for obvious reasons. They've finished on the east coast for the season, too, which is a nuisance.

Heh! My old meme. Good old ILX. Never forget(s).

jaymc is slipping, this is v v old news.

can't believe jay payton is not retired! 3 for 4 today

craig counsell

mike hampton is still playing?????