rolling retirees: 2018 and beyond

daniel bard has had enough

Bard would appear in just 13 innings over that four-year span, allowing 35 earned runs while walking 46 and hitting 16 batters. Yet he continued to motor on, trying anything and everything to get back to the big leagues.

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/1/4/16797700/daniel-bard-retirement

I remember seeing him at NYY in a late sept/early october game when we first came up and the air went out of the stadium when his name was announced.

rolling unretirees

Good to be back in the cage again. The comeback is real. pic.twitter.com/uA8FMjyTjv

— Rafael Palmeiro (@Rafael_Palmeiro) January 5, 2018

former pirate great justin morneau

https://www.twincities.com/2018/01/08/report-justin-morneau-set-to-retire-rejoin-twins-as-special-assistant

minnesota native and 12-year twin glen perkins

mark appel, the top pick in the 2013 draft

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2757009-why-mark-appel-perhaps-the-biggest-bust-in-mlb-history-is-retiring-at-26

backup catcher eric fryer

xp long way down from the #1 pick

He's excited to play Settlers of Catan or one of his 30 other board games with John, with whom he shares a one-floor home

Ex-A’s ace Jarrod Parker tells the @sfchronicle he is officially retiring; a look at his life after promising career derailed by injuries: https://t.co/SFb6gVc6K7 via @sfchronicle

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) February 13, 2018

2009 AL ROY Andrew Bailey

former mets great mike pelfrey

12 seasons, 68-103, 4.68 ERA, 1.510 WHIP, 4.8 bWAR, $41m in salary

nice work if you can get it

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.

howie kendrick

That salami he smacked off Kelly was unforgettable.

Looking at his career box, has to be one of the most consistent hitters of recent times--had a great 2019 season that jumps out, but everything else more or less resides in this range that's just consistently solid. I never really followed him, but he was great to watch during the Senators' WS run.

good player, world series mvp, great career

always weird to look at a solid player's JAWS and see that they're nowhere close to the Hall but are nevertheless like the 56th-greatest second baseman of all time

daniel murphy

goodnight, ya jerk

dustin pedroia

Definitely one for a parallel People You Thought Were Retired but Aren't thread. He looked like a very good HOF bet coming out of 2016.

you think? he was never the same player he was in those first two years where he won ROY & MVP. just kind of a gradual decline with more and more injuries pilling up.

i'm trying to think who else won MVP right after a ROY debut. i know there's at least one or two more.

i looked it up. one i really should have remembered and the other i don't blame myself for forgetting.

All speculation now, but I think he was headed there, yeah. At the end of his age-32 season:

-- an MVP and a ROY
-- two WS titles
-- perceived as the "team leader" (along with Ortiz) on the second one
-- a middle infielder with 1,700 hits, 130 HR, and a .300 lifetime BA; probably headed for 2,500+/200+
-- 50 bWAR, probably headed for 65-70

Cano was regarded as the best second baseman in the game during his decade-long peak, but he was next best, I think (I may be forgetting someone).

(xpost) That's a good trivia question...Pujols arrived during Bonds's heyday, so I don't think it was him.

did jacoby ellsbury ever officially retire?

You're right, Clem – he didn't "decline" so much as kind of have a moderately up-down, all-star calibre streak for a while there before the injuries piled up.

did jacoby ellsbury ever officially retire?

― mookieproof, Monday, February 1, 2021 9:38 AM (twenty-eight minutes ago)

No because he is still is eligible for a $5M buyout for 2021 (the final year of his contract).

i'm trying to think who else won MVP right after a ROY debut. i know there's at least one or two more.

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, February 1, 2021 8:31 AM (one hour ago)

I guessed 3 (the most recent ones), but missed a super obvious one.

Pedroia was durable until the knee injury in 2017 and was averaging about 5.5 WAR per year. He was definitely building a solid HOF case. Regardless, he had a great career.

Take away those scare-quotes around team leader--force of habit from all those years of Morbius looking over my shoulder.

rip some of the worst facial hair in baseball

frickin lasers tho

End of an era

Tim Tebow is retiring from professional baseball. https://t.co/9C09gJKK7K

— New York Mets (@Mets) February 18, 2021

lol

it's hard not to think of morbs right now

can't believe tim tebow gave up on himself; presumably god let him know that there were other plans for him

he'll always be a 2018 eastern league all-star

brian dozier

nick markakis

Damn, I was kinda hoping Markakis would stick around for the March to 3000!

Legend

had no idea he had so many hits! someone on reddit said he was "hall of very good", which i didn't think i agree with, but damn was he good at a lot of things and consistent af.

he was a good player! and i think we can afford to be generous with our hall of very good bids

heyrookie_youweregood.jpg

big respect to markakis for busting out his 2nd best season in 162 games in 2018 with the barves, at 35, 10 years after his young heyday with the orioles

sorry, 3rd best (by fWAR)

I think it was his only all star season?

wow, yeah so i looked into that a bit. 2018 was his all-star year, but 2007/2008 (his 2nd/3rd year) were his best years as a young man in Baltimore. In 2008 he lost out to Red Sok J.D. Drew who was ok, but well behind in fWAR in 2007/2008 (4.8 to 11.7). There were 6 Red Sox on the AS team that year. In conclusion the all-star game is stupid

Yeah, Kansas City All-Stars from a few years ago was a stain on the all-star brand as well

led the AL in bWAR in 2008 and didn't get a single MVP vote

was both a doubles machine and an outfield assist machine, the two funnest kinds of machinery

gio gonzalez

he was pretty bad last year and has always walked too many guys but i guess i'm a little surprised. possibly a victim of the three-batter rule? (not that his splits are that vast)

jay bruce, after today’s game

is this a prediction?

I see, he’s retiring after the game. Odd timing.

pittsburgh’s own neil walker

jordan zimmermann

Guy I thought was playing--Edwin Encarnación--isn't; has he retired? Guy I thought was retired--Aaron Sanchez--is in San Francisco, pitching reasonably well so far.

edwin hasn’t retired, but no one has signed him. he was pretty bad last year, and the lack of NL DH hurts him

Give him a month.

Tyler Flowers has decided to retire. He played the past few seasons with two degenerative discs in his back and developed another while preparing to resume his career with the Braves in a few weeks. He’ll always be remembered for revolutionizing the art of pitch framing.

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) May 14, 2021