When Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik offered to call other teams up and measure interest in Eric Byrnes, the left fielder told him not to. Byrnes told Zduriencik and Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu that he is ‘done,’ writes Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle.
"To be honest, I don't really have any interest,” Byrnes said. “I've never been scared for it to be done, for life after baseball, and it's not because I didn't love the game."
Byrnes, who first told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports of his retirement from the game, now plays softball every Wednesday for a slow pitch team (check the Chronicle article out for some memorable photos). Byrnes told Morosi it's time for him to surf, golf and read his daughter bedtime stories.
"Am I retired from baseball? Yes. Am I retired from life? Not even close."
Reports hinted that Byrnes could retire earlier in the month, after the Mariners released him. He wraps his career up with a .258/.320/.439 line compiled with five teams. He will have pocketed a total of $39MM by the end of the season, according to Baseball-Reference. The D'Backs are paying Byrnes most of his $11MM salary this year, with the Mariners contributing $400K.
The SFChronicle link goes to the Giants page.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/13/SP681DDLVD.DTL
Is the hard link to the Byrnes story
Just wondering, since I was dumb enough to draft Brynes in my draft, can I get his softball stats to count in my fantasy league? 🙂
Who would ever draft Byrnes in a fantasy league??? Are you in a 30 team league or something? He wasn’t even a starter. lol
Anyway. Good for Byrnes!!! Still a young guy that has his health and 40 million to do whatever he wants in life. He’ll be living the life most of us can only dream about.
i would be scared of playing slow pitch against him….he would crush the ball
lol, that’s why slow pitch soft ball is so awesome. I was lousy for my local teener league baseball team but you should see what I can do to a softball now.
He’d more likely pop it up to the second baseman.
I’d like to see him make a catch in LF and do his somersault throw home!
Good for Byrnsie. I’ll be sad to see him go. He was never amazing with the bat, but kudos to him getting that insane $30MM deal. I’m sure that helped leaving be that much easier for him. Probably would’ve tasted bitter had he just left with the $9MM.
I’d be willing to retire for 9mm. Good for him though to retire on his terms. Sad to see when an athlete is afraid to walk away either because he can’t afford to, or because he knows nothing else.
Sure, in real world value $9MM is plenty. But when you factor in union fees, club house fees, agent fees, all the various taxes, etc. and then consider that all you do is play baseball and you’ll no longer get paid for that…not very much money.
Kind of surprised he didn’t mention getting into television, still wouldn’t surprise me if he eventually did.
Wasn’t he hosting the playoffs a few years back after the D’backs got eliminated?
Guarantee he becomes a anchor on the MLB Network or on Baseball Tonight. I remember in MVP Baseball 05 he was the shiznit. He would always be their in the 7th round and be a steal.
Also, I remember when he was traded from OAK to COL, then COL to BAL in like a 3 day span.
He still gets paid for the rest of the year, even if he retires?
I think the player only forfeits pay if retiring while on the active roster. Byrnes was released by the club, so the club would still be obligated to pay out the contract (unless the player signs with another club, in which case the new club pays the prorated minimum salary).
Congrats Byrnes enjoy retirement. Wonder if he will do his ESPN gig again he was interesting to listen to.
Byrnes is a little crazy and ‘out there’, but he knew the game and made for an interesting color analyst. He’ll do well as an analyst for MLB Network or ESPN. He’ll be calling games by the All Star break (probably will do a cameo for the All Star game like he did a few years ago).
He was never the most talented player, and was an adventure defensively, but he always scared me when he hit against the Padres. He NEVER got cheated on any swing, and was always coming out of his shoes.
Does he have the worst slash line for someone who has earned ~ $40m in his career? Must be close.
Most assuredly – but sadly, he won’t be the last.
HALL OF FAME
I wish I got that type of money to do nothing. (*sigh*)
Hey he’s not doing nothing, the man is surfing, golfing, and reading bedtime stories to his daughter.
Is it me or does Byrnes look like he’s tweaking?