Padres right-hander Jered Weaver has announced his retirement through a team press release. The former Angels ace had an impressive 12-year career in the majors.
Weaver, 34, had been on the disabled list for much of the season with hip issues. In a statement, he explained that he has not been able to get back to health. “While I’ve been working hard to get back on the mound, my body just will not allow me to compete like I want to,” says Weaver.
“Many thanks to the Padres organization for the opportunity to play in the amazing city of San Diego. You have been very professional and respectful during this process and I really appreciate that. I would also like to thank my teammates for welcoming me in with open arms and for all the support throughout the season. I’m excited for the next chapter in life and making up for lost time with my family. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years. It was a great ride!”
Undoubtedly, Weaver will be best remembered for his long run of success with the Halos from 2006 through 2016. He topped two thousand total innings with the organization, working to a 3.99 ERA there.
That overall record tends to understate just how good Weaver was in his prime. In particular, in a five-year span beginning in 2010, he spun over a thousand frames of 2.99 ERA ball with 7.6 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. The first three of those campaigns included All-Star nods and top-five Cy Young finishes.
A former first-round draft pick out of Cal State, Weaver moved quickly through the Angels’ farm system. He played a significant role in driving several of the team’s postseason appearances. Over seven total appearances in the postseason, he threw 27 2/3 innings and compiled a 2.60 ERA.
More recently, Weaver dealt with health issues and a notable drop in velocity. Never a hard thrower, he sat below 85 mph with his fastball over the past three seasons but still managed to gut out 379 1/3 innings over 66 starts. The final nine of those came with San Diego.
The Friars had inked Weaver to a one-year, $3MM contract following the conclusion of the long-term extension that Weaver signed with Los Angeles six years ago this month. He never got going with his new organization, though, managing only a 7.44 ERA with 23 strikeouts in his 42 1/3 frames before hitting the DL.
That late fade doesn’t detract from a top-quality overall career. Weaver wraps things up with 34.8 rWAR and 30.3 fWAR on his ledger. He also notched a memorable no-hitter in 2012. MLBTR offers Weaver a tip of the cap and best wishes for his future endeavors.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wow. Nice career, good luck in retirement
One of my all time favorite players. Sad it had to end like this
Impressive he hung in as long as he did. Well done, JW
Fun pitcher to watch. Best of luck in retirement.
It’s crazy to think how fast careers can be derailed, only three seasons ago he was a frontline starter and now he’s retiring, sad to see him go out this way, but congrats on a fantastic career and good luck in retirement ‘
Oh yeah, baseball is just so dang fickle like that. As a Braves fan, watching guys like Mike Minor, Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy, Kris Medlen, Eric O’Flaherty, and Jonny Venters all show signs of becoming solid to All-Star caliber pitchers, only then to each individually have their careers derailed by injuries…Baseball, much like life itself, just is nOT fair sometimes…And sometimes, it is the best men that ultimately have to travel the hardest paths…
Venters, Medlen, and Minor are all still trying to live their dreams by making comebacks, but with a combined at least 6 surgeries, it doesn’t look good…You have to give them credit though for their efforts and love of the game…Much like Weaver…
Weaver has fought against his body the past 3 seasons, but unfortunately, the injuries just took too much of a toll on Weaver’s body…
I honestly hope he signs a 1-day contract with the Angels to officially retire with their organization…He has given Angels’ fans countless amazing memories, and he deserves to go out with the great organization from which he once starred..
Best of luck to Weaver, if it is in his heart, hopefully he can continue on as a pitching coach somewhere. In his prime, he certainly knew how to spin it!!
RIP Tommy Hanson
Oh man, Hanson and Beachy had me so hyped for awhile.
The EOF, Venters, and Kimbrel led bullpen was something amazing too.
Liked watching him get major league hitters out w/right-handed 83 mph fastball last cpl seasons. Always a bulldog, classy telling Boras NO to free agency n giving Angels discount, wanted to stay home, heart of a lion, thanks for the memories JW !
How much money did he make? I always love when you guys include that
He made $3 million this season.
Because I am bored and I like Weaver I looked it up… According to Fangraphs (which is not always accurate on contracts), he made 99.7 million dollars in his MLB career. If you add in his approximate earnings in the minor leagues, it’s probably an even 100 mil.
Just north of 105 million
It seems like he’s giving up on himself kind of quick. He’s only 34, and probably had a future as a specialty reliever. He wouldn’t be the first guy to succeed with a low 80s fastball after reinventing himself.
But it’s possible he just didn’t want to go through the process anymore.
It had to be hard for him mentally to go from ace like stuff to what he was working with lately.
Cal State Long Beach* not Cal State.
Woop woop Long Beach State. Go Dirtbags
L.B. State!! Joe Madden years back once said he’d rather just take his pick of L.B. State guys and just skip the MLB draft.
Happy Retirement Weaver!
One of those guys who you swore would make it to cooperstown, have fun in retirement
I see a one day contract in his future
I hope so.
Much respect. Good luck.
The guy flat out was a smart pitcher. You don’t last long with an 85 MPH fastball if you don’t know how to pitch. It was really fun to watch him work.
He was better than his brother, but it is interesting that both of their careers ended at age 34.
This signing was obviously never going to work out – Jered had been awful for a while – but he had a better career than I remembered. And made a ton of money while at it. I’m sure he’ll enjoy his retirement.
He was better, but Jeff was no slouch. Jeff just had the bad fortune of being the best pitcher on some very bad Detroit teams. I think the losing just destroyed his confidence. Put him on a good team his first four years and Jeff might have had a much better career.
Didn’t Jeff actually get cut one year and Jared got the roster spot? I seem to remember that. Could be wrong though.
Jeff always said jered had the advantage of being a better pitcher because he developed his change up early.
This really impacts this year’s Cy Young balloting.
Why be a jerk?
It’s kinda just what he does
He can’t help it
You mean like how you can’t help being brain dead? :}
Because when mom isn’t home to unlock the basement, he has nothing better to do.
Idk how offended I can be by a guy whose name is two letters off “dimwit”
Weaver rides off into the sunset alongside Tim Lincecum. Not long ago they both sat atop their respective leagues, and now it’s over. Most unfortunate.
He announced his retirement in January when he signed with the Padres. Glad it’s more formal, now.
Guy was a competitor. Needs a one day contract to retire an angel.
His FIP was 3.99. ERA was 3.55 w/ LAA
What a great career, one of my favorite pitchers ever and a delight to watch growing up as an Angels fan. I remember countless hours throwing against a brick wall in my backyard mimicking his delivery, glad he can go spend time with his family, i would love to see him come back to the Angels in some coaching capacity in a couple years. Thanks for all the years at the Big A!!
Not trying to take anything away from the guy because he had a really solid career up until the last couple years, but he should have hung his cleats up last winter. Tough to see a guy struggle to make it onto the field, throw 80mph fastballs, and get crushed into retirement.
As a Padre fan I’m very used to losing and witnessing blowouts. I attended the last game he ever pitched in. When he gave up 7 runs in 2/3 of an inning and couldn’t even make it through the 1st inning thats pretty much the only time I’ve ever not liked baseball and had a bad time at an MLB game.
Good luck to him in retirement. And it’s nice that he was able to pitch in with this years’ Padres Tanking venture. Even at his worst, he still found a way to help out.
That venture isn’t working out so well. They keep winning! Ugh. Now come the Nats, et al. Hopefully we can get some losses, dang it
The guy was the king of getting lucky, about them he’s gone.
He was still around?
He was very good for quite a while. But man, when he went, he went fast.
It’s an interesting point in baseball history when a frontline starter retires and his win total isn’t even mentioned, just his IP, era, and WAR numbers. I know wins don’t matter to the quant jocks, but I still like to see it.
I think over a career, wins mean something. Like if you win 10-15 games in a season, it doesn’t mean anything. But when you win 100-150+ it means you’ve obviously been at least consistently decent. But obviously it’s not a great way to judge a pitcher, but if I said, “x won 150 games” you and I would both know that that pitcher had done something good for a while
It it could mean he played for trams with good offenses. ERA and IP tell you all you need to know.
Actually the Angels never gave him much run support. He was one of those pitchers who had more control over outcome of the game than most during his prime, and actually earned many of his wins.
ERA is a flawed stat because it’s based on errors, a subjective defensive metric. FIP, xFIP, and SIERA are much better measures of production.
The Angels gave Weaver 4.7 run per game in support of his starts over his time there. Some years more, some less.
At least ERA is an individual stat. Wins and losses are team stats.
The point is that ERA is not an individual stat, it’s a stat based on errors, a subjective defensive metric, that players on the team other than the pitcher committed. It’s not an individual stat at all.
Way more of an individual stat than wins and losses
Oh and I know how to downvote comments too
It would tell me he pitched for a while on a team that scored alot of runs. It would tell me nothing about how good he is. If I have to base my decision on a flawed stat for pitchers, I would prefer ERA.
Why? They should only include real stats.
Fell off that cliff fast
Last 3 seasons have been bad for Weaver.
I hope this is not goodbye, old friend. You dazzled us. You inspired us. You stayed with us as long as you could. You’re an eternal Angel. Hang with us forever.
Kind of curious if the Padres are paying him the rest of his $3 million salary now that he retired?
It would be a classy thing to do, but I don’t believe that they are obligated to pay him anything for that month and a half left in the season.
They need it more than he does.
I’m not sure. It depends on if this retirement is considered medical. I would think they would have to simply because there was no reason for Weaver to retire. Otherwise, he could have just rode out the season on the DL.
No. They could have insured the contract, as Texas did with Prince Fielder, but I doubt any team would pay the premium on such a small contract. Weaver won’t get paid whatever small bit of money is left on his contract for this season – he’s giving up roughly 350k bucks, which is nothing for him but more than like 99% of the people on earth make in their entire lives. Puts it into perspective, huh?
If you’re gonna report on where he went to college at least do it right, Cal State is a school system just like how the UC system has tons of different schools in it. Weaver went to Cal State Long Beach
Agreed. I hate to be critical of the fine folks who do great work here at MLBTR, but…guys…
This “Cal State” thing is egregious stylistically. Along the lines of saying “Aaron Judge plays for the New York professional baseball club system”.
The official name of the school is “California State University, Long Beach”. But the best shorthand that everyone will understand and accept is “Long Beach State”.
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