Veteran catcher Eric Fryer, who earlier this offseason had inked a minor league deal with the Phillies, has elected to retire instead of attending camp this spring, the team announced.
Fryer, 32, has spent parts of the past seven seasons in the Majors, including 94 games between the Pirates and Cardinals in 2016-17. In 374 plate appearances across the life of 159 games, Fryer hit .232/.320/.300 with a pair of homers, 14 doubles and a triple. In addition to spending parts of three seasons with the Pirates and two with the Cardinals, Fryer also saw action with the Twins in the 2014-15 seasons.
In addition to his time in the Majors, Fryer, a former 10th round pick (Brewers, 2007), enjoyed a nine-year career in the minors, during which he batted .269/.357/.396 in an additional 647 games. Best wishes to Fryer in his post-playing days.
A bit unusual. A career backup whos never made a ton has a chance to make nearly a million should he make the team calling it quits before ST? I get it should he be cut from the Phils…but before? I’m sure he thought it over….good luck Eric.
Maybe his body is beat up and the thought of trying to push through 162 games seemed daunting.
Or maybe just felt he was done as a fringe player.
Or maybe a job opened up that he couldn’t refuse.
Or maybe aliens from the future kidnapped his dog and said, “retire or else!”
Man, that’s just cruel, kidnapping his dog. Did they threaten to eat it?
No… Not illegal aliens… from Korea
maybe he was just fried
I agree with slide
Most of these guys aren’t quite as enamored with dollar bills as we all think we would be in their position.
I don’t think its all about being that enamored with money, they guy has probably made less than $4M in his career, nearly half of which went to taxes. Unless he has saved and invested really well, he most likely doesn’t even have to enough money to actually retire.
he’s retiring from baseball. He is allowed to make money, still.
Maybe, also, he’s smarter than you and invested well.
A couple of more years as a fringe player wouldn’t change that. I would guess a lot of fringe players are more aware that the gravy train is going to end someday than a lot of solid MLB’ers are.
And if he earned roughly $4M, that would put him ahead of most 32-year-olds.
Don’t forget:
after 43 days in the majors, he qualifies for a pension. So, he’ll get just under $100,000/year in pension. (if he had gotten to 10 years, it would have been close to double that.)
Plus, they qualify for full medical after 1 day in the majors.
So, he’s earning a good pension, plus doesn’t have to pay a thing for medical.
I think he’ll do just fine retiring, even if he doesn’t take another job somewhere (don’t be surprised, though, if in the next few weeks that it’s announced that he has been offered a coaching job somewhere – catchers are always getting coaching jobs)
Or maybe just tired of the grind. Happened to me, just wasn’t fun anymore.
Why is it that talent is sometimes wasted on the talented? I’ve always had the drive…just needed more talent.
He had 375 ABs over 7 seasons and is tired of the grind? Please stop it. Try working a real job and maybe you’ll appreciate playing baseball.
Lol, as if someone that lives on the bench doesn’t have to work as hard or harder than an everyday player. The grind/struggle is real.
LOL. I’m on my 35th year, working as an accountant. The grind gets tough here as well. My 4 month tax season is like baseball season.
Those paper cuts can hurt!
A paper pusher whose job will be replaced by computers in the next couple decades is a grinding job? Okay..
Sorry, but I can’t help but laugh at people who think they work a “real job” vs. those that work in an “unimportant” industry such as entertainment/sports. Especially when comparing the number of hours required to put in (whether it’s primarily a physical or mental job).
Have you put in the hours/time and have the talent to be in the 0.03% of all accountants in the world? I highly doubt it.
Ha, they do hurt. It’s great he made it to play MLB. I would trade my years as a beancounter for a season in the big leagues.
Mental grind and physical grind is almost incomparable, but you obviously don’t understand that
-sincerely,
Someone who actually plays a sport
Yes, mental grind is much tougher. I know that. I played sports although not on professional level.
Sincerely,
Someone who actually thinks.
Try commuting 2 hours a day to work and other 10-12 hours working using your brain and Weekends during busy season. This is for 48 weeks of the year. So please step down off your high horse.
that’s in the majors. he probably had a full seasons worth of at bats each year in the minors
That’s in the majorsm. He probably had a full seasons worth of at bats in the minors each year
You made it to the show?
I wonder if he had some kind of event that prompted his retirement (kids?). I liked him with the Cards cause he was an actually competent backup. Hope he does well.
who?
Exactly what people are saying about you
Is this steve adams doing a Kevin Durant fake account? it’s not the 300+ comments like the Yu Darvish story, but 30 something isn’t bad.
Sorry. Not to be a jerk, but who?
IDK, read the article.
Eric Fryer. It’s right there in the headline.
Made over 100 PA only once in his career. Not particularly notable news.
only because he wasn’t a chub
and??
This is how slow the hot stove has become.
Yes, filled with innane, sophomoric and unoriginal comments from bored adults who atecstuck with no one to vicariously live through
Thank you for giving an example of that wrigley.
Like saying I retired from the game.
no..
yes…
Good backup catcher. He did well enough for us when Yadi was injured.
Maybe he had an offer similar to Michael McKenry got from the Pirates and he retired to announce or coach. To those above that question why he would pass up 1.4Million, he would only get that much if he spent the entire season on the MLB 25 man roster. Prob not passing up all that much in minor league money
Hope he announced with the Cards then , cuz those guys suck bad!
I’m going to click on this article, spend time reading it, then leave a comment complaining that it was a my waste of time.
Actually, proper form is to click on the article, scroll to the comments section immediately without reading and click on on and make a comment complaining that the article was a waste of your time. Wait a few minutes and make another comment having nothing to do with the content of the article but is at least remotely tied to the content of the headline, still not having read the article. 🙂
Best of luck, we hardly knew ye.
You did a great job for the Cards, Eric!