Veteran left-handed reliever Tony Watson is retiring after 11 seasons at the Major League level, he tells Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic. Watson issued a statement thanking his teammates, peers, coaches and support staff members, as well as the four teams for which he pitched — Pirates, Dodgers, Giants, Angels — and his family and friends for their support throughout his career. Nesbitt further tweets that Watson originally hoped to continue on for at least a 12th season, but shoulder issues led him to call it a career.
As Nesbitt points out, Watson will step away from baseball as the all-time leader in holds (a statistic which has been recorded since 1999), having racked up 246 of them throughout his big league tenure. That’s a testament to the southpaw’s consistency and effectiveness. Not only did his reliability convince managers to give Watson the ball with small leads year-after-year, he frequently passed them along into the later innings by keeping runs off the board.
Watson exceeded 40 innings in ten of the the past eleven seasons, with only the shortened 2020 schedule keeping him from hitting that mark every year of his career. Only once did he post an ERA north of 4.00, and he allowed fewer than three earned runs per nine innings on four separate occasions. That included three straight excellent campaigns with the Pirates in 2013-15, during which time the University of Nebraska product tossed 224 1/3 innings of 1.97 ERA ball, stifling opposing hitters to a .212/.265/.297 slash line.
Amidst that run, Watson earned a deserved selection to the 2014 All-Star game. He struck out 26.6% of opposing hitters that year — the second-highest rate of his career — while posting a 1.63 ERA and leading the National League with 78 appearances. Watson remained eminently productive throughout his tenure in Pittsburgh, which concluded at the 2017 trade deadline when the non-contending Bucs shipped the impending free agent to the Dodgers. (That deal looks as if it’ll be a meaningful one for years to come in Pittsburgh, as now-top prospect Oneil Cruz went from L.A. in return).
As he was throughout his career, Watson proved an effective late-season addition for the Dodgers. He then signed a three-year deal with the division-rival Giants, where he remained a solid bullpen option. Between 2018-20, Watson posted a 3.20 ERA in 138 frames. He signed with the Angels in free agency last winter, but San Francisco brought him back via a deadline trade. Watson had run into some uncharacteristic struggles in Orange County, but he righted the ship for what’ll prove to be his final run in the Bay Area.
Even as he neared his 37th birthday, the Iowa native was one of the better left-handed relievers in this year’s free agent class. He reportedly drew some interest from the Mets last month, but his shoulder will prevent him from giving it another go. Nevertheless, Watson steps away from the game as one of the more quietly effective relievers of the past decade. He posted a 2.90 ERA in 648 1/3 innings across 11 major league campaigns. In addition to his aforementioned holds record, he saved 32 games and struck out 570 batters. MLBTR congratulates Watson on his long, successful run and wishes him all the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
#FOREVERGIANT
Is Aaron Altherr the next #FOREVERGIANT?
Tony Watson was a great Giant! Have a fantastic 2nd half to your life young man, and come back to the Bay often!!!
Always loved his work here in Pittsburgh.
Always loved his work in San Francisco. A real pro.
Tony Watson was missed after being traded. But what the Pirates got out of that trade, is knocking on the door. Time will tell if Cruz will be something special. But anyways, Congrats to Tony Watson and Pittsburgh will always love you. Enjoy your retirement!
I mean good relievers arenât missed for losing team tbh, it was a steal of a trade too. But he was a good player, just useless when rebuilding.
Enjoy retirement, Tone Ranger! You were a pleasure to watch pitch.
Was hoping to see Watson suit up for the Mets, but nevertheless, Congrats on a successful career!
$23 mill in earning not even being a closer. Numbers like that now will get you double perhaps even triple that over 11 years. No wonder starters are a dying breed.
Watson and Melancon were such an automatic shutdown 8th and 9th inning punch.
Reunion in SF for a season too
Hanrahan and Watson were really good, then Grilli and Watson were a bit better but you’re right that Melancon and Watson were pretty automatic. Most people looking back at that era of the Pirates recognize Cutch, Walker, Harrison, Burnett, Liriano, and Cole primarily driving the success of the club and deservedly so but the bullpen was always solid.
Not a “great” career but a very, very good and a solid career. One he can certainly be proud of. Best to you, Tony.
Pappas:
Not a “great” post, but you can be proud of yourself anyway.
I had thought Watson would join the Mets and work with their bench coach Glenn Sherlock, but the pairing was not to be.
2.90 ERA, 10 years of service in mostly high leverage situations. 2.25 in the postseason. A pro and great teammate. Great career, accomplished what 99% set out to do but never achieve.
Good career, nice career earnings. Enjoy retirement.
Honestly thought he was worth bringing back this year.
Good luck Tony, forever greatful you brought us Oneil
Good solid veteran, made about 28M in his career….better than Redfsnyder, if you can believe that. Or Swihart!
Congrats Tony Watson! I always hated to see you warming up. Ultimate respect for a job well done!
As Nesbitt points out, Watson will step away from baseball as the all-time leader in holds (a statistic which has been recorded since 1999), having racked up 246 of them throughout his big league tenure.
that’s odd, because i seem to recall it was created a few years after the save was, when they changed the rule from any reliever who isn’t eligible for the win can be awarded it if it was a save situation when they came in to the modern version of the save rule we have now.
maybe 1999 is when it started being tracked for arbitration purposes, perhaps (since now holds do play a small part in determining salaries for relievers who aren’t closers).
anyways, tony had a good career and i wish him the best in his retirement.
Excellent career that he should be proud of. One of the better relievers of his time, especially from the left side.
Hecka of a career. Sorry his shoulder has gotten given out.
Sorry to hear about the shoulder issues, but congrats on an outstanding career – and thanks for your contributions to the Giants.
One of my all time favorite Pirates.As consistent as Melancon was,they were key to the brief period of Pirate almost dominance.They made winning games just seven inning affairs.Good luck to Tony,now I know why he was not signed for another year.
11 seasons? never heard of him, lol, well he played for the pirates so ya, thats why, lol
Okay Karen, I mean Amanda!!! Oops
Yes and we never heard of you…..well it figures you are a troll
Judging by your avatar you should know have at least heard of Watson considering he was the de facto setup man for both Joel Hanrahan whose career bottomed out quickly after joining your Red Sox as well as Mark Melancon whose career took off after leaving your Red Sox in that trade.
I have a 2014 All-Star game baseball signed by Tony Watson. I have a Tony Watson #44 player t-shirt also from PNC Park. He was definitely one of the Pirate MVPs 2012-2016. He was one of my favorites.
Not that wins mean a lot, but Tony Watson got the “W” in 2 of the 3 games that the Dodgers won in the 2017 World Series. Trash can banging could not hurt his 0.00 ERA and 0.818 WHIP in his 3.2 innings that series.
In my opinion, if the Phillies keep Tony Watson out of spring training last year, and let Brandon Kintzler walk instead….. the Phillies make the playoffs. He could have brought some stability to that trash bullpen that blew so so so many games.
I was just about to post the same thing. Spot on! Why they dumped him right before last season was senseless. If I could give your comment 2 thumbs, I would.
Greatest Padres player of all time. I still remember watching him in the 90’s. I had no idea he was still playing.
Tony was a fab reliever.
a staple of the Shark Tank in our play off runs..
One of the best left handed relievers during much of his career. He was pretty horrible in Pittsburgh the year he was traded.
That NH trade looks like it turned out well. NH had some pretty good hits on Trades, just starting to show now.
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Pretty good career. 2.9 ERA in 11 seasons? Well done. Enjoy retirement
and a 1 whip
I had always hoped that this guy would have found his way onto a Cubs roster. Very effective. Nice career. Enjoy the next phase of your life.
Congrats on being the all time leader in Holds. Nice career there Tony, enjoy retirement!
All-time leader in holds? Get him to Cooperstown
I like the Sunday throwback uniform used in the photo.