Mariners outfielder Carlos Quentin confirms that he will retire from the game, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports in a series of tweets. Quentin had been playing with Seattle’s top affiliate since inking a minor league deal, but left Tacoma last night.
Quentin, 32, has $8MM left on the deal that he originally signed with the Padres. San Diego shipped him to the Braves just before the start of the season, of course, as part of the salary swaps included in the Craig Kimbrel deal. Atlanta cut him loose in short order, eating the remainder of that contract.
The route being pursued currently would see Quentin retain his rights to that guaranteed money. Atlanta would have been able to earn some relief had Quentin continued playing, though that amount would not have exceeded the pro-rated portion of the Major League minimum salary.
The Mariners will technically grant Quentin his release, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Twitter), but that’s little more than semantics. Heyman notes that Quentin’s injuries will no longer allow him to play, which is the reason for his departure from Tacoma and his decision to retire.
The Mariners had hoped that Quentin would re-establish himself as a viable part-time bat, though obviously the team was not relying on that outcome and essentially took on no financial risk in signing him. Between 2008 and 2013, Quentin slashed a robust .260/.356/.503 with 136 long balls. But he has been slowed by injuries in recent seasons, making only 815 total plate appearances in that stretch.
Quentin confirmed in the press release that physical issues drove the decision to retire. “Over the past several days, it became clear to me that my injuries have taken too great of a physical toll for me to be able to perform at the level I expect from myself,” he explained. “As a result, I believe it is the right time for me to walk away and to refocus my energy on the next chapter of my life with my family.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
“In the process of retiring from baseball.” That describes the last 24 months of Quentin’s career pretty succinctly.
I’m glad someone else said it.
I mean, I know it’s easy to take cheap shots at Quentin and everyone likes to crack jokes, but the guy hit .275/.363/.493 in 82 games in 2013, with half of them coming at Petco. Quentin was a consistently excellent hitter for the better part of six MLB seasons — his body just didn’t hold up.
Agreed. He could always hit; probably going to the NL wasn’t great for his career, what with the injuries and lack of any defensive ability.
His Petco splits have been horrible for his career, his decision to sign with the Padres is probably something he regrets tremendously given his production really didn’t trail off until last year.
He was traded to the Padres; he re-signed with them but the initial transaction was a trade for two minor leaguers who never made the majors (I think). To be fair, almost every hitter’s Petco splits are bad. It’s a tough place to hit. His overall numbers with San Diego, when he was on the field, were very good. But he couldn’t stay healthy and couldn’t play defense at all.
He pretty much forced that trade, IIRC.
I can’t find anything online about that, but perhaps he did. He was arb-eligible and the White Sox seemed to not want to pay him. They traded him for nothing.
Again, just going from memory – I believe he made statements to the effect that he wouldn’t sign with anybody except back home in San Diego the following year when he reached free agency. It nerfed his market and the Sox got the only thing they could for him.
Yeah, bad move for all involved, seems like. The return for him to the White Sox was Simon Castro and Pedro Hernandez. Castro pitched 4 games in the majors and Hernandez had one of the worst seasons imaginable for Minnesota in 2013.
He did hit when he was on the field. But it was pretty obvious beginning around the road trip through the AL East in mid-May 2013 that he was quickly losing the ability to stay on the field. I give him all the credit in the world for willing himself back into the lineup after the week he missed in June that year and for continuing to hit the ball through July, but watching him play by that time, it was pretty hard to imagine he’d ever be able to stay on the field consistently again.
That’s what I meant by my quip, though certainly if it was a player who was more likeable (which is to say, any player I’ve met in the last 20 years around the game not named Werth or Pierzynski), I might have passed on the cheap shot.
Jeff, can you shed some light on this for me/us: what route can he pursue where he retires, yet still gets paid? Are all MLB contracts like that? I can’t imagine so; what would stop, say, Stanton from just retiring now and living on easy street forever and ever?
The Braves released him so they’re on the hook for his salary. Seattle will not have to pay whatever they signed him for.
That much I understand, but if he retires, why are the Braves still required to pay him? (unless I’m seriously mis-understanding the article)
Because they released him. He didn’t quit them, they quit him.
Got it. Thank you for the clarification.
Perhaps “In the process of retiring” means that he won’t play this year and will file his retirement papers after the season.
That’s likely the case. If he files papers before the end of the championship season, he forgoes his salary from the Braves.
I must say, I’m glad for the discussion on this, since it shows I’m not the only one in the dark about this! (laughing) I really appreciate the information I get from writers and fans alike on this board.
The Braves took on Quentin’s contract in the trade w/ the Padres, making them liable for his pay no matter what they did with him. Since they released him before he chose to retire, there’s no way that would void the pay.
That is incorrect. If he files official retirement papers, the Braves will no longer be obligated to pay his salary.
I’m not 100% sure on this since the contract obligations are already owed. But it’s possible. Either way, it shouldn’t be too hard for him to navigate this properly to keep the money.
The way I’ve always understood it is that if you officially file for retirement, you forfeit your salary no matter who’s paying it.
In most cases that would hold true. But the problem is usually when a player is released, the team that does so is obligated to forfeit the obligated money, and I think the only pay that he would be forfeiting himself is the salary under his current contract w/ SEA. I’m not an expert here, but that’s what seems to be the case.
Yeah, this is definitely a unique case here.
I’d guess the Braves would be off the hook for a prorated portion of the major league minimum once he retires, but that’s completely supposition on my part.
Err, never mind, I was talking about the Mariners, not the Braves, but this was agreed upon already.
He can “delay” retirement while collecting a pay check
they were paying him mlb minium to play in tacoma
Key here is that the Braves released him. If they had wanted to keep him and he wanted to retire, he’d have had to negotiate an out and probably give up some money.
I am not sure whether Quentin needs to talk with Atlanta before officially retiring, which would obviously play into his relationship with the M’s as well. Ultimately, teams are generally very willing to work with their minor league FAs, because treating guys right leads to the ability to get future minor league FAs. (Hence, players are often released to pursue better opportunities elsewhere, etc.)
In this case, I’d expect all involved to just figure it out so he can walk and keep his money in an efficient manner. It’s not like he owed anything to the Braves, who dealt for him as a procedural mechanism and cut him loose right away.
I thank you for that! Good information to have.
The “semantic” update from Heyman is entirely about this point. The Mariners granting him his release removes them from the puzzle entirely. He will now presumably go home, wait until his contract with the Braves expires 72 hours after the World Series, and then file his papers.
he still get paid by Atlanta/SD who ever on hook for rest of his contract as look at former player who is still being payed by a mlb since he been retired for logn time
If he’s on the Bernie Williams timeline, he should be official in about 10 years.
This should put a smile on Zach Greinke’s face.
No kidding. Good riddance to bad business.
I wonder if you’re going to retract that statement next season once Greinke leaves the Dodgers?
No, I will not.
Of course. Do you know that Greinke threw at Quentin’s head TWICE in the same PA? He actually hit him in one of those pitches on the ear flap, this is coming from a guy who’s had superb control for his career and suddenly he loses it when Carlos Quentin comes to the plate and starts missing behind his head.
No excuses. Period, full stop. What’s more, you got the story completely wrong. Grienke hit Quentin on the arm. No pitch went near his head. The only player to take a head shot in that game was Matt Kemp.
See you in Cooperstown, Carlos.
As a paying visitor…
Yeah, Carlos Beltran.
Poor guy. Glad he took it upon himself to retire
As a White Sox fan, I thank you for having easily your best season with us. Seems like yesterday you were a legitimate AL MVP candidate, we’ve yet to have an outfielder as productive as you since you left. Best of luck CQ.
Dam, my team could have traded for him. Now its too late.
Eight million is a nice retirement bonus. Wish Quentin well for the rest of his life…..that said, guaranteed contracts are destroying baseball as we know it. There are players on major league rosters who should be playing golf and sipping on margarita’s, instead they are taking up roster spots for no other reason than their fat, bloated multimillion dollar contracts. It’s an absurd thing to behold.
Not that he isn’t pretty well set up for the rest of his life, but it’s probably worth noting that Quentin will has some significant medical expenses down the road.
Baseball is in better financial shape than it has ever been, profits are up dramatically, attendance is at an all time high. How are guaranteed contracts destroying baseball again?
Mr. Glass finally broke.
Grady Sizemore retired? 😉
“Hard Hittin Carlos Quentin” good luck in your retirement.
If you get hit by pitch the intent is ambiguous.
If you charge a mound the intent is explicit.
End of argument.
How so? Can you explain?
See: Dodgers – Padres brawl in August 2013
There’s two sides to every story.
Charging the mound makes you a “horrible person with serious anger issues?” The I guess hundreds of players are in that same category. I was watching that game; Greinke, who is a hothead himself, hit Quentin intentionally up near his head, then exhorted Carlos to charge the mound. Nobody was in the right there, but I don’t see how that one incident should impugn Quentin as a “horrible person.” Greinke had hit him several times before.
Not saying Quentin wasn’t intense, but it wasn’t the first batter Greinke had plunked. He’s another guy with some documented lack of interpersonal skills.
The guy posted the same thing on the post when he got released, despite the majority of everyone but Dodger fans agreeing that Greinke did himself no favors by throwing at Quentin’s head a few years back TWICE and actually hitting him on the head with one of the pitches.
The fact is Greinke did provoke Quentin by hitting him and totally staring down the guy after doing it and then he apparently said something which the broadcasters refused to show. He provoked a guy who’s already angry you threw at his head TWICE in the same PA a few years back to charge the mound.
Qunentin should have been suspended for the season. No excuse for his action. None.
It wasn’t intentional and wasn’t by hid head. It hit him on the elbow. It was a 3-2 count, in a 2-1 game in the bottom of the 6th inning. Greinke was not trying to put a runner on base by hitting someone in that situation, especially not as bad a hitter as Quentin.
Quentin made a career of being hit by pitches. You could look that up.
Quentin was the wrong hombre to pull that Greinke stuff on…I’m just stating it as fact. He’d been doing it since his days as a Royals rookie….and had a LONG history with Quentin as well.
No excuses. Sorry.
How many head shots do you think he took in his career?
Dude that was clearly intentional … Greinke doesnt throw like that.
Then you have to make every charge of the mound a season suspension. That would be even more dangerous…the pitchers might start firing at will. I know you’re a Dodgers fan, and that’s fine…but the pitch was intentional, just as the mound charge obviously was….part of the game. Not sure you’d want Greinke suspended for the season for plunking a batter…he, and about 90% of the other pitchers in the game would be out.
Don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. He got in the way of pitches more than anyone active in the game at that time. It was his style of play.
So if he died, you’d blame Quentin? I can’t imagine you’d tell Carlos that in person.
No way he got nailed more than Juan Pierre
Juan Pierre probably got drilled today walking out of a Burger King… He always had this hands over the dish.
No, you wouldn’t. The man attacked another player. MLB should make that a serious offense. This has nothing whatsoever to do with what team I follow.
I’d say a pitcher attacking a fellow player with a 95mph fastball is much more relevant.
So you had no problem when Greinke got plunked on the head and the Dodgers bullpen rushed out there and started beating up the Diamondbacks later that season? The comments I get from Dodger fans is that the Diamondbacks deserved it despite the two teams exchanging the bean ball all night.
If the player “attacked” doesn’t want to pursue any type of action, then why should the league? That’s silly. Greinke had every chance to pursuit legal action after the incident had he felt something wrong had been done, but he didn’t. Therefore, like I said last time this was discussed, it’s a non issue.
Sorry, this makes no sense whatsoever. I remember at the time a lot of people were defending Quentin attacking Grienke on the grounds that Grienke “deserved” it somehow. This logic was sad then and it’s just a sad now.
Lots and lots of history between the two going back to White Sox-Royals days…fact is that Greinke incited the mayhem
Zack hit him ON THE HEAD. That can kill the man, he threw at him TWICE in the same plate appearance in the exact same place.
I have a problem whenever players get into physical altercations with other players. You will never hear the “he deserved it” reasoning from me, ever.
Dude, this is why we have umpires.
Yup, so the entire Dodgers bullpen should been “suspended for the rest of the season” according to you. Oh wait, you don’t agree? That’s a double standard if I ever heard it.
You should watch the replay; Greinke basically challenged Quentin to come out and fight him. It’s on youtube, I’m sure.
If that’s what the situation required, yes. You are creating your own double-standard and assuming that I subscribe to it.
I’m positive you’re not telling the truth, what fan would willingly admit that they want their team to get worse? Who’d watch the Dodgers if their bullpen was comprised of AAAA talent that blew 8-4 leads every night?
No, he hit him on the arm. You simply do not know what happened that night. The only player who did get a pitch thrown at his head in that game was Kemp, which is what really set the stage for the brawl that followed.
Could not say for sure, but at the time it was reported that he’d been hit by more than 100 pitches.
He did, in fewer seasons. Dude was a notorious plate crowder, which makes it hard for me to take his side in a fight caused by him getting plunked. He once led the majors in HBP in about half a season’s worth of games.
Just given the pitcher, the past history, and what was going on in the situation…Quentin had spent seasons being nailed by Greinke with the Sox. Greinke was his go to head hunt if Konerko lit him up.
Not that many of us are interested in pesky facts, but his HBP rate from his rookie year in 2006 until the Grienke incident was one per 24.1 PAs, easily making him the league leader in that department. The next highest was Reed Johnson at 1:30.0. He’d been plunked 232 times in his pro career (including 115 times in the majors). Three pitchers in the majors had hit him at least three times (including Jon Lester), so Grienke was in good company. It wasn’t so much that he was a plate-crowder as he didn’t make much of a habit of bailing out on inside pitches. He didn’t make any effort that night either, as anyone who saw it then or watches the video today can plainly see. What you can also plainly see is that Quentin had already taken a three steps towards the mound when Greinke said something. Then Quentin charged at him.
Quentin spent seasons getting nailed by everybody. He got hit at a substantially higher rate than even Biggio, and he and Greinke have spent the majority of their careers in the same division as one another, so it’s understandable that he got hit by him a lot. There’s like 4 or 5 pitchers that have hit him as many or more times as Greinke has.
I know what you’re saying, but I have a unique angle on it. I lived in the KC market during Greinkes social anxiety days. He would routinely lose his composure and either knock guys down or drill them. Of course it happened with the Sox…but almost every team that played KC. By the end of the Greinke/Quentin era I was living in the Sox market. It was much discussed by both sets of broadcasting crews. I watched that Dodger-Padre game…and it was an uh-oh moment from the get-go….just bad blood. It had nothing to do with Quentins propensity to get hit…he took it in the dome more than once from Greinke
Quentin batted 261/374/504 in 2012 (the incident too place at the very beginning of 2013) so the argument that he was a bad hitter is a little of an exaggeration. He was hit in the shoulder by a guy who had hit him twice before. Quentin was heading towards first, although he was jawing at Greinke, but then Greinke threw down his glove and challenged Quentin to fight him. Neither party acted particularly honorably here, but ascribing “horrible person” to a player with no real record of off-field or other incidents doesn’t seem quite fair.
I’ve watched it many times. Quentin had already taken three steps towards the mound before Greinke said whatever he did say. We don’t know what that was, and probably never will, but I don’t care if he questioned Quentin’s parenthood, what happened next was totally outside of the bounds of the game. The fact that he tried to justify the attack in his comments after made it even worse. And don’t get me started on the suspension (8 days). A joke.
There’s videos of it. Chicago vs K.C. Quentin referenced it after his brawl with Greinke “for everyone to go look it up”. Where he was plunked by Greinke and escorted quickly by the home plate umpire and the catcher before anything could come of it.
Greinke threw 2 balls in the same Plate Appearance that went at Quentin. One missed him and the other hit him on the helmet.
You’ve watched that one yet you haven’t seen the video of K.C vs Chicago where Greinke threw one and nailed Quentin on the head. Despite already throwing one earlier at his head.
Apparently you don’t care about Quentin’s very well being when someone throws in a dangerous spot that could do serious damage. I think a 90+mph fastball at someone’s head can do a lot more damage than a running shoulder tackle.
8 days is a pretty long suspension. And Greinke threw down his glove and exhorted Quentin to come at him