Nomar Garciaparra will announce his retirement at a Red Sox press conference this morning, tweets ESPN's Gordon Edes. WEEI's Lou Merloni reports that Garciaparra is signing a one-day minor league contract with Boston to retire as a member of the club, and then begin work as an ESPN analyst. Merloni says Nomar had asked Red Sox GM Theo Epstein about playing opportunities the last few years. WEEI's Tom Layman has the transcript of Garciaparra's press conference.
Nomar, 36, finishes with a sparkling career line of .313/.361/.521 in 6,116 plate appearances. He spent the majority of his time at shortstop, though also played the infield corners later in his career. Garciaparra was a superstar with the Red Sox, winning Rookie of the Year in '97 and getting MVP votes and All-Star appearances in six different seasons.
Garciaparra was traded to the Cubs before the Sox went on to win the '04 World Series. Nomar struggled with injuries after the Cubs trade, but did have a nice year at first base for the '06 Dodgers. He banked about $78MM in his career, according to Baseball-Reference.
