Right-hander Josh Lindblom took to Twitter today to announce his retirement as a player. “For 30 years of my life, I played a game that taught me about more than balls and strikes, hits and runs, and wins and losses,” he wrote. “It taught me about life and made me the person writing this letter.” He then goes on to thank everyone with whom he’s interacted over that time, before concluding “I might be done, but I’m not finished.”
Lindblom, now 35, was first drafted by the Astros, who selected him out of high school with a third-round pick in 2005. Lindblom instead went to the University of Tennessee, later transferring to Purdue University. The Dodgers then selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft.
He was considered one of the club’s better prospects and would make it to the major leagues with the Dodgers in 2011. He did some solid work out of their bullpen that year, making 27 appearances with a 2.73 ERA. He made another 48 appearances for them through July of 2012, posting a 3.02 ERA in that time. He was then flipped to the Phillies at the deadline as part of the trade that sent Shane Victorino to Los Angeles.
His results took a downturn at that point, as his ERA after the trade was 4.63. Another trade sent him to the Rangers for the 2013 season, which he spent working primarily as a starter in Triple-A but struggling in brief MLB appearances. Yet another trade sent him to the A’s for 2014, where he was only able to make a single appearance in the majors, spending the rest of his time in Triple-A.
Lindblom then signed with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization. His first stint overseas was a successful one, as he threw 210 innings over 32 starts there with a 3.56 ERA. He couldn’t quite repeat that performance in 2016, as his ERA ticked up to 5.28 over 30 starts. A brief MLB comeback didn’t lead to much, with Lindblom signing a minor league deal with the Pirates. He was selected to the club’s roster and made four appearances but was eventually outrighted and returned to the Lotte Giants for the final months of the 2017 campaign.
2018 would prove to be a pivotal turning point for Lindblom. He signed with the Doosan Bears of the KBO and posted a 2.88 ERA over 26 starts and 168 2/3 innings. He returned to the club for 2019 and was even better. He made 30 starts in his second year as a Bear and registered a 2.50 ERA over 194 2/3 frames. He was voted the MVP of the league that year and the Bears won the Korean Series title.
He was able to parlay that strong stretch in the KBO into a three-year deal with the Brewers, which came with a $9.125MM guarantee and incentives that could have allowed him to earn $18MM. Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite replicate that production in North America, at least not at the big league level. He posted a 5.16 ERA in the shortened 2020 season and then a 9.72 mark over eight relief appearances the year after. He was outrighted in May of 2021 and has been pitching in Triple-A since then. Though he’s had some decent results at that level, the Brewers never selected him back to the roster.
It’s certainly been a circuitous journey for Lindblom, as his career path took him to six different MLB teams and a couple of KBO squads. He hangs up his spikes having played in 134 major league games and 130 in Korea. We at MLBTR congratulate him on a unique and interesting time as a professional athlete and wish him the best in whatever he gets up to next.
3.56 to 5.28 in ERA is a tick?
OMG I’m first! How do I screenshot? Checkmark the Bucket List! Call my Mom. Livestream to my kids. I’m no longer afraid of death.
You just don’t know what it’s like until you’ve been here folks.
Congrats! Beat me to it. All I can say is WOW!
Ride the wave.
“I’m no longer afraid of death” got an audible chuckle out of me. Thanks!!
Actually you are second..
Done it twice, so meh.
You da’ man! Forgive me for being off topic but the Trevor Bauer story isn’t accepting comments. My question is how in world does he get away with his entire salary after committing alleged crimes and being suspended? Something’s wrong when contracts are guaranteed even against crimes and wrongdoing.
“Alleged” is how. How would you like it if you could get fired from your job simply because I “alleged” that you did something? Frankly the real crime was that the entire Bauer situation wasn’t dealt with behind closed doors.
Business owners should be able to fire employees whose conduct is bad for business. Trevor is getting paid for this year, the Dodgers just correctly think he is so bad for their brand that they would rather pay him to hit the road. Smart move by the Dodgers. Moreover, given the long layoff and that most players don’t like Bauer (even before the more recent allegations) with his one eye closed crap and talk of taking one year contracts, I predict that if a team does pick up Bauer he will be only average and not elite.
Alleged? He had 3 accusers, not just one. Obviously there was some payoff hush money offered to make them all just quietly disappear…..
1. Still just accusations
2. Bauer isn’t the type to pay someone “hush money.” If he was we would have never heard about any of this. There has been nothing “quiet” about this case.
He pocketed $10 mill. plus whatever he made in Japan. If he was responsible with his money, he should be in command of his future.
I can’t resist. I don’t think the Korean people would take too kindly to your considering his money made there as being made in Japan. They’ve been there, done that.
10 million even if you consider taxes and agent fees, is a nice sum of money to plan out the rest of his young life.
Lindblom very likely made more than $ 10m alone after he came back from his second stint in Korea. His decision to choose a multi-year deal with a low AAV for a possible starter paid off in retrospect.
Gruß,
BSHH
His career is nothing to Josh about.
See you in Cooperstown, Josh.
Wait, what weekend are you and Josh going?
The same weekend as Refsnyder, O’Brien, Swihart, and Frazier!
it really truly makes my heart happy to see the Peter O’Brien joke still living on after all these years.
@Eric, are you & Josh going Dutch?
What do you expect Pinkerton? That joke got rave reviews.
And the anecdote was funny as well
I feel old because I understood these references. Swihart and Frazier are the more recent of the bunch I think.
At least he had the good sense to attend College rather than sign out of High School.
Hopefully he got a college degree.
If not, he needs to complete that degree in an area that intrigues, interests, satisfys and challenges him.
If he was prudent with his earnings from professional baseball,
he may never HAVE to work to support himself or his family.
He can just go out and do something he loves.
He can just invest it and live off yield.
He went to a school that promised him innings and he had to transfer out because they didn’t use him, maybe signing out of HS would’ve been the better choice.
He had an epic year in Korea in 2019 which he parlayed into a 3 year 9 million dollar contract with Milwaukee.
He made the top 50 free agent list that offseason (#42).
Complete disappointment
Was by far the best IL player. Very good at it.
That he retired or him as a person?
Neither; his performance
$7M over 7 years? Better than me and I’ve never come close to pro baseball. Congrats on your retirement! Do such players with less than 10-years of service still get a partially pro-rated pension or are they out of luck?
Found: “Players who have played in MLB for 10 or more years, and have accrued at least 1,000 days on an MLB roster, are eligible for the maximum pension benefit of $230,000 per year.”
$10 Mil – Only in America
Who?
Josh Lindblom I think.
He should be thanking the Brewers for making a comfortable retirement possible
Tastefully diplomatic closing sentence, Darragh. Nicely done.
Well, he played 134 games and struck out 200 more batters than me. Enjoy retirement, Josh.
To be honest I was kind of expecting Lindblom to get another stint in the KBO before he retired but hopefully his retirement is a smoother journey.
He’s the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he knows not what it means
Knows not what it means
Tender age Lindblom
Frank Burns had a tough time in Korea.
MLBTR wishes him the best. What an endorsement. F right off MLBTR. Vultures and maybe a little more, tops.
Guess he’s calling it a Korea-er. Wish him the best.