rolling retirees: 2018 and beyond

russell martin, officially

really good player; put up 5.7 bWAR in just 111 games with the pirates in 2014 and has to be among the best free agent signings they ever made (which is admittedly a low bar to clear)

fourth all-time in bWAR by a canadian

I’m like 99% sure I know who the top three are.

j.a. (pronounced ‘jay’) happ

Martin caught 30 out of Happ's 33 starts the year he went 20-4.

have to assume that rick porcello is done; he hasn’t pitched since being garbage for the mets in 2020. still only 33!

has to be among the least impressive guys to win 150 games and a cy young

edwin jackson, officially

14 teams in 17 seasons , 4.78 ERA, 88 ERA+, 8.9 bWAR, $79 million in salary!

A’s C Stephen Vogt will retire after 10 big league seasons, leaving a lasting mark from Tampa Bay to the Bay Area, beyond. Grateful to cover him for a decade and to share his story. On Tuesday it was Vogt w/emotional message to team after beating Mariners.https://t.co/aFoyr5VgQG

— Janie McCauley (@JanieMcCAP) September 22, 2022

This is really for an un-retiree thread, but none exists:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35220178/lhp-cole-hamels-feels-healthy-surgeries-eyes-comeback

He pitched pretty well in 2019, but this sounds a little sketchy.

rick porcello has, in fact, announced his retirement

Dude won a Cy young - never made an all star game.

Melky Cabrera!

https://www.mlb.com/news/melky-cabrera-retires-from-mlb#:~:text=Melky%20Cabrera%2C%20an%20outfielder%20in,'09%2C%20when%20he%20hit%20.

He was damn good his one full season in Toronto.

His second full season, I should say--and great for the 2012 Giants WS team.

David Phelps!!

His second full season, I should say--and great for the 2012 Giants WS team.

One of Cabrera's associates purchased a website for $10,000 and falsified its contents in a way that would have allowed Cabrera to challenge his suspension by claiming that the positive test was caused by a substance sold through that website, but MLB officials and federal investigators used forensics to trace the website back to Cabrera.

Forgot all about the PEDs...Now I remember all the raised eyebrows at Melky Cabrera suddenly hitting .350.

I will never forget. The jays got a great deal on him for two seasons and he wasn’t bad!

https://i.postimg.cc/5ydj20Hz/6-B70-A601-90-E5-4603-825-A-19-B8-C086-B01-C.jpg

aw i liked him on the cubs, he was a good leadoff guy. i remember after 2015 everyone thought he was going to the orioles but then he came back to the cubs on a surprise one-year contract, which ended up being a good move for him and the team

i didn't realize how much of a surprise that was, when he returned to the cubs for 2016! here's footage:

A little more footage from #Cubs SURPRISE this morning at camp. pic.twitter.com/7X1skZmOSD

— Kelly Crull (@Kelly_Crull) February 25, 2016

his surprise signing/spring training appearance was very crucial, like he had to come back for A Reason. v symbolic of that whole 2016 for me. after 2015 being a shockingly good year, it felt like a stepping-it-up moment.

darren o'day announced his retirement. pretty solid career, great run w/ the o's on their early-mid teens playoff teams (6th in career appearances). loved that sidearm motion.

last active player drafted by the expos . . . tom brady

jason kipnis

neither is unexpected, but lorenzo cain and mitch moreland are retiring. moreland more of a confirmation after not playing last year, and cain will retire this summer in kansas city, despite starting and ending his career in milkwaukee.

i always liked cain - fun player

considering how solid and well rounded a player he was at his peak, I'm surprised he was only an all star twice. great combo of hit/on-base, speed, glove with a dash of power.

The classic Amos Otis/Bernie Williams does-everything-well (but-nothing-spectacular) player who's underrated as a result. Ends his career with over 5.0 bWAR/162 games.

should have probably should have won some more gold gloves. he had a bunch of fielding bible awards.

from 2012-2015, matt harvey went 25-18, 2.53, 427 IP, 449 K, ERA+ 146 and made $1.719m

from 2016 on, matt harvey went 25-48, 5.92, 539 IP, 418 K, ERA+ 72 and made $26.2m

i mean i'm glad matt harvey got paid, but the trend line is not unlike that of an NFL running back (which is a whole other example of massive exploitation). and maybe starters aren't actually that different from RBs

cole hamels, hall of the pretty good-er

60~ war in 13~ seasons, I’d give him hall of very VERY good personally

i almost said 'pretty *damn* good-er' but chose not to because phillies

Sad he couldn’t get it back together, would have been an amazing story to see him have a verlander-esquire revival with the Padres

At a certain point, I started to group Hamels, Jon Lester, and John Lackey together; I figured one would break through and make the HOF. The two Jo(h)ns pair up well, but Hamels was clearly better.

In honor of the two Jo(h)ns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZGSYjRsf5k

i regret having (even vaguely?) cast shade upon cole hamels, because jon lackey is maybe my least favorite player of this millennium

incredible prick, spent his entire career being like first of all the umps are fucking me, and secondly, my teammates suck because they don't catch every single ball

honestly fuck that guy forever

Excuse me for saying so, but one of the rare occasions where you absolutely can judge a book by its cover. First time I saw his face my immediate thoughts were something along the lines of “I bet that bloke is absolutely 0 fun to be around”

Bartolo Colon retiring next month as a Met. Should have retired him at this year home run derby with a special side-show event titled “He drives it, deep left field”. Still mad the league got rid of pitchers hitting, they should have got rid of the DH instead.

Don't remember a thing about him other than a general consistency in his year-over-year record...which was less impressive than I'd remembered looking at it now.

You could throw Colon and Buehrle and even, to a degree, Sabathia in there. They were all kind of old-school.

Speaking of great home runs, the image of Hamel that sticks in my mind the most (sadly) is the shot of him sitting alone, stoic expression, as the camera shakes back and froth from the Roger Centre rumble following Bautista’s home run. He obviously had much better things to be remembered by, but that shot is a work of art and a great encapsulation of why baseball is the best sport

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/8uqipCV1ifImqE6orZx4BNfPAlEZLys8rwLz7TjlDxK7OsUTQnBxitWtvU5g9vOm9eW4p2K09c4JG1bvRcwvv_AK4z57WKdqC1X3htMM1-TmHvsglqKoOm7-pwCVTgRt5Y8sIv_B

Followed by this Mona Lisa expression

https://imgur.com/a/RNrQHpA

https://i.imgur.com/GB6Qo2e.jpg

BREAKING: Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg will retire. The World Series MVP and former No. 1 pick in the draft, who couldn't overcome complications from thoracic outlet syndrome, is tentatively planning a September announcement. (w @dougherty_jesse)https://t.co/DM33q5F4J5

— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) August 24, 2023

All gave some, some gave all.

He's giving up a lot of money by retiring, That run in 2019 was really special though.

warning, stats:

he retires with 1470 IP and a career FIP of 3.02. for pitchers with 1400+ IP since integration, that's the 12th best FIP. the top 15 is a fun list (i think):

koufax
bob veale
kershaw
j.r. richard
gibson
pedro
sale
rollie fingers
dean chance
nolan
drysdale
strasberg
seaver
marichal
hoyt wilhelm

i still keep fucking up the hide function, my apologies. i tried

https://i.imgur.com/sub9ItL.png

??? It worked.

I thought at first this thread would be about ILXers who have retired.

Pretty sure he keeps the money because it’s an injury retirement. Saw a sad tweet about him not being able to hold his kids or even open doors with the injury. Wish him all the best