Left-handed reliever Brett Cecil took to Instagram this week to announce his retirement from baseball. In a lengthy statement, Cecil thanked his family, his representatives at ACES and both Major League teams for which he pitched: the Blue Jays and the Cardinals.
Cecil, 35, hasn’t pitched in the Majors since the 2018 season, although that’s not for lack of effort. The southpaw signed a four-year contract with the Cardinals in the 2016-17 offseason and turned in a solid first year in St. Louis before injuries completely derailed his time with the organization. A shoulder strain landed Cecil on the injured list after his first appearance of the 2018 season. He missed more than a month with that injury and spent another month on the shelf due to a foot strain later that year.
The 2019 season was a complete wash for Cecil, who underwent surgery to alleviate carpal tunnel syndrome in his pitching hand early in the year. He wasn’t able to make it back to the mound in ’19, and his 2020 season never got off the ground. Cecil suffered what the team termed a “significant” hamstring strain in Spring Training, not long before the league shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He’d made it back to the mound and was reportedly exploring a new sidearm delivery when MLB clubs began their “Summer Camp” in advance of the shortened season. The Cardinals cut him loose prior to the new Opening Day in what would have been the final season of that four-year, $30.5MM contract, however. He did not sign with a team for the 2021 season.
Cecil’s run in St. Louis clearly didn’t go as hoped, but the injury-plagued nature of that contract tends to overshadow the quality results he’d enjoyed in Toronto prior to signing that deal. Cecil had a bit of success as a starter with the Jays in 2010-11, pitching to a 4.43 ERA in 296 1/3 innings over the life of 48 starts. That two-year period even included a pair of complete games — one of them his lone MLB shutout. The left-hander’s career truly took off with a full-time move to the bullpen, however.
From 2013-16, Cecil pitched to a 2.90 ERA with a sizable 51.2% ground-ball rate, a massive 30.5% strikeout rate and a solid 8.3% walk rate. He was more effective against lefties than righties, as one would expect, but he more than held righties in check during that four-year run. Cecil posted a 3.88 ERA in his first season with the Cardinals, as his strikeout rate dipped a bit, but he remained a strong ground-ball pitcher with a terrific walk rate.
Cecil will retire from baseball with parts of 10 seasons in the Major Leagues, during which time he went 44-47 with a 4.29 ERA, 12 saves and 67 holds in 756 innings. A series of injuries cut short what looked to be a burgeoning run as one of the game’s better left-handed relievers, but two solid seasons as a starting pitcher and a five-year bullpen peak that saw him post a combined 3.14 ERA and fan 29% of his opponents from 2013-17 nevertheless makes for a fine big league career.
Enjoy retirement!
Lol
Can’t help wonder what would have happened in 2015 if he didn’t get hurt so early in the playoffs.
Why
Why did you have to bring that up.
Just to trigger you
Worked, I need a safe space
Pretty decent career, at least with Toronto. Too bad injuries and stuff derailed his St. Louis tenure.
Made the Allstar game as a setup man,right? Before that was cool?
Always felt bad for the way his career ended with all the injuries, he was a very solid pitcher before hand
As an Os fan, whenever Cecil got the call when the birds were threatening, I always said ow no.
Part of those first post-Halladay rotations that we thought were so promising – Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum, Brandon Morrow, Kyle Drabek, Henderson Alvarez, Brett Cecil…
To be fair, most of those names achieved some success.
Was a heavily criticized contact when the Cardinals gave it to him, and it turned out even worse. Big contracts for relievers rarely ever workout. A good reliever is overused, and with the arbitration system set up as it is, by the time a reliever has 6 years under his belt and reaches free agency, he’s already been used and abused. There are a handful of cases where it has worked out, but there are dozens of cases where it has not.
Agreed. When Cecil left to sign with the Cardinals, I knew that as a Jays fan I was gonna miss him, but at the same time I sure was glad Toronto wasn’t the one handing him that contract. It sucks he broke down the way he did, but like you said, that’s more the rule than the exception with 30-something relievers.
Thanks for the memories though, Brett. Best wishes for the future!
Definitely. And my favorite team the Cardinals didn’t learn their lesson, repeating the mistake with Andrew Miller. I am a big Mozeliak backer, but his strengths are trades and drafting; not so much for free agent signings and contract extensions.
Craven Moorehead wishes Brett Cecil the best of luck in his future endeavors and also a joyful retirement.
And rememberthecoop thanks you.
Can’t forget the coop
I want his agent to find my new job. 4 year contract after years of wear and tear and a so so season on his contract year.
Every time I used to see B. Cecil in a boxscore, my mind would always first think Beanie and Cecil.
I thought I was the only person who thought the same thing. You must be an old dog, like me.
It’s a shame they cancelled the 2015 playoffs after he got injured. Oh what could have been.
Cecil’s retirement announcement on Twitter was very classy. He’s a good egg.
I agree that his announcement was very high road. Good luck Brett on your retirement.
I always think it’s funny how on most of these articles about a player retiring, MLBTR congratulates him on his career, but then there are some here and there like this where they don’t.
“I’d particularly like to thank the Cardinals for giving me generational wealth that I didn’t remotely earn.”
You’re commenting on a baseball site during the day do you really want to bark up that tree?
Of course he earned it. Both sides agreed to the terms of a contract. He fulfilled the contract.
Oh lord, don’t remind me he was employed by St. Louis.
Be nice. Time to let it go.
There is plenty to argue about whether or not he earned his money, but you are right. Time to let it go.
Thanks for the update on Cecil
He was a great partner..
What is the status of Beany ??
Always was a huge fan of Cecil and was sad to see him leave the Jays for St. Louis. As has been mentioned before in the thread, what a shame it was for him to get hurt in the 2015 playoffs. He had a good career and I wish him well.
Two years too late but all the best to him
Could have sworn he retired in 2016. Thought he had season tickets to Busch Stadium and bought a personalized Cardinals jersey. Today I learned that was wrong. Good luck to you, Mr. Cecil, you outplayed everyone.
All Star appearance as well!
Brett Cecil was more content setting in the locker room, playing Chess, than throwing off the mound when he was with the Cardinals. His previous team knew exactly when to cut ties with him.