rolling retirees 2013

Orioles 1B Conor Jackson has retired from baseball.

[obligatory "didn't realize this was on ILBaseball" joke]

topeka-based human resources manager bill friedman announced retirement at end of fiscal year

the conor jackson thing is surprising cause he narrowly lost a spot on the 25-man to steve pearce, who has yet to record a hit

Ted Lilly, age 37

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lillyte01.shtml

Lilly was a solid pitcher. I remember when the cubs signed him I wasn't expecting much but he put up 3 1/2 very good seasons (w/a 15+ WAR) before they traded away to the dodgers.

rod barajas has officially retired, will manage the padres' azl club

six-time all-star lance berkman

HOF? let's argue. i say NO. well maybe.

nah. nice career tho

RIP berkman

i really enjoyed watching him play during the one season that he was healthy with the cards. he seemed to be a natural leader, too.

The guy is pretty classic beyond his playing ability. He's got two good knicknames "Fat Elvis" and the "the Big Puma". Berkman eating the Twinkie in Chicago was pretty great too.

Lance Berkman had quite a few seasons where one half was way better, where he was unbelievable in the first half then pretty bleh in the second half or vice versa. So you could say he was kind of streaky in a way.

Berkman just killed the Reds. I still always kind of liked him as a player and would have probably been a favorite if he played for a club I rooted for except the Astros.

His career WAR is lower than Fred McGriff's. I love him but I'll pass.

Whether you look at him in terms of WAR or more traditionally, I'd have to say zero chance. No seasons over 7.0, three in the six-range, couple more in the fives; on the other side of the ledger, 366 HR and a .537 SLG mark are not especially noteworthy for a guy with half a foot in the offensive boom years. He was maybe viable through his age 33 season, not a whole lot after that.

beat reporters have been mourning his departure for quote-related reasons

HOF? They won't even let fuckin' BAGWELL in.

ya :(

obv they're holding out on bagwell and biggio so the killer b's can all go in together duh

I hate seeing great players get forced into early retirement because of injuries. Still, he had an amazing career and I'm glad that he got in one last great season in '11 and won a championship.

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfPEFA1CMAEAQDg.jpg

ha haha omg

michael young

lol: http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=HsjAS

a guy with half a foot in the offensive boom years

I think the common way to phrase that is "with one foot in..." I really ought to learn the idiom.

u lol, mook, but Lloyd Waner is in the HOF (brother's coattails)

Three of the top 10 (i.e., the bottom 10) are in the HOF.

There are only 84 guys on the list. You've got play long enough to accumulate 7,000 PA, and you've got maintain an average of .300. Someone's got to rank at the bottom--I think, on balance, Young had a pretty good career.

On the other hand, the often comical ELO fan ratings on Baseball Reference as of this minute:

208. Michael Young
209. Joe Mauer
210. Mike Trout

if you play that long and hit .300 you're pretty good! but some are gooder than others. it hadn't occurred to me that mark grace would have nearly twice young's war

also lloyd waner was never caught stealing*, so there

never recorded CS i guess

also Monday marks the start of launching 2014 threads, cuz bumping ones w/ other years drives me crazy

"Rolling Retirees 2013" has just announced its retirement, effective Monday.

roy oswalt, two years late

the captain, after the season: https://www.facebook.com/derekjeter

can't wait to watch him get saluted in stadium after stadium all year long

i guess it's kind of an asshole thing to criticize, but it also seems like kind of an asshole thing to do. i suppose he won't get worshipped as much as mo

please don't bother picking that apart and pointing out my reasoning makes no sense. i already know that, work sucks, and i'm cranky