Four-time Gold Glove winner Andrelton Simmons is retiring, his representatives at ISE Baseball announced on Instagram earlier this week. The defensive stalwart last appeared in the majors in July 2022.
Simmons was a second-round draftee of the Braves in 2010 out of an Oklahoma junior college. There was some thought he might be better suited as a pitcher at the time thanks to his elite arm strength. Atlanta stuck with him as a shortstop, where prospect evaluators projected Simmons as a plus defender. He exceeded even the loftiest reviews of his glove, quite likely becoming the best defensive infielder of his generation.
The Braves first called him up in June 2012, a little before his 23rd birthday. Simmons capably held down shortstop from that point forward, putting up roughly league average hitting with strong defensive reviews. He started that year’s Wild Card game and cemented himself as an everyday player for the better part of the next decade.
Simmons took what would be a career-high 658 plate appearances the following season. He connected on a personal-best 17 homers with a .248/.296/.396 slash line. While that wasn’t particularly imposing offense, he rated as a staggering 30 runs above average with the glove. That earned him his first Gold Glove and down-ballot MVP support and helped the Braves to an NL East title.
The following offseason, Atlanta signed Simmons to a seven-year extension. His $58MM guarantee established a new record for players with between one and two years of MLB service. Simmons’ power dipped over the next two seasons, but he continued to rack up eye-popping metrics and highlights on defense. He won a second Gold Glove in 2014 and arguably should’ve received the award again the following year.
Atlanta missed the postseason in both seasons, however, kicking off a rebuild. During the 2015-16 offseason, the Braves dealt Simmons to the Angels for a prospect package headlined by Sean Newcomb. While the left-hander had an inconsistent tenure in Atlanta, Simmons spent the next few seasons offering his typical combination of slightly below-average hitting and superlative defense.
He’d win two more Gold Gloves in Orange County, finishing in the top 15 in AL MVP balloting in 2017 and ’18. He was credited with 41 Defensive Runs Saved in 2017, easily the highest single-season mark by a shortstop since the statistic was introduced in 2002. Simmons owns three of the top 10 and six of the top 30 DRS grades on record at the infield’s most demanding position. Unsurprisingly, he easily holds the top career mark among shortstops over the past two decades. His estimated 201 runs saved in more than 10,000 innings is 82 runs higher than second-place finisher Adam Everett.
Simmons remained with the Halos through 2020. He signed a $10.5MM deal with the Twins for the 2021 campaign. While he continued to play stellar defense, his offense cratered. He hit .223/.283/.274 in 131 games, setting the stage for a modest $4MM deal with the Cubs. Simmons mustered only a .173/.244/.187 line in 35 contests for Chicago and was released midseason.
He didn’t sign with a major league team from that point forward. The Curacao native represented the Netherlands in last spring’s World Baseball Classic, as he had in 2013 and ’17. He saw action at third base in an infield also comprising Didi Gregorius, Jonathan Schoop and Xander Bogaerts. Simmons went 2-11 in four games to close his playing career.
Simmons appeared in parts of 11 MLB seasons. He tallied more than 4,800 plate appearances over 1,226 contests, hitting .263/.312/.366 with 70 home runs. He was one of the game’s more reliable contact bats, striking out in fewer than 10% of his plate appearances. Simmons will be better remembered as one of the best defensive shortstops the game has ever seen.
FanGraphs valued his career around 25 wins above replacement, while Baseball Reference credited him with 37 WAR. B-Ref pegs his earnings just under $72MM. MLBTR congratulates Simmons on his excellent run and wishes him the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Congratulations on a successful career, Simba! While offense was never your strength, it was enough (during ATL tenure) while your glove shined like no other. All I remember is how he would appear out of nowhere to snag a grounder and use his canon to throw out most runners.
I heard the Rays need a new shortstop?
Must have not heard about Carson Williams yet don’t worry y’all will be dealing with him and Camiero for the next 5 years
I don’t know about 5 years. Maybe 3 because, you know, Tampa.
When the Braves started tearing things down…Simba and then Kimbrel getting traded before opening night were by far the worst ones for me. Simmons was so fun to watch.
Dutchies keep churning them out
Congrats Simba! His LAA tenure was an excellent one as well.
The Simba for Newcomb trade made Angel fans a little nervous at first (you don’t often trade away LHP starters), but it worked out for all parties.
Other than Ozzie Smith and maybe Omar Vizquel, Andrelton Simmons was the best shortstop I ever saw play the game.
Didn’t realize his career was so short. Fell off a cliff at the end.
Hope he enjoys his retirement as much as we enjoyed watching him play.
I agree. I remember Rafael Furcal (ATL SS in 2000) having one of the strongest arms I’ve ever seen. Simba didn’t have the same arm strength, but it was close. He had the coverage and range to make up for it.
Likewise in LA. Watching Simba play was jaw dropping as he slid and jumped in one motion and always getting the out.
Sell sell sell sell
wonder how Mr. Scrooge spent his Christmas I wish he would sell the angels. It’s been cancerous ever since he’s owned them. but hey, he did lower beer prices in 2003.
It’s a wonderful life, Henry F Potter
Happy holiday angel fans
Arte Moreno
I wish u knew what u were talking about. We’ve won 6 of our 9 division titles under Arte. Not to mention he signed or drafted 3 of our 4 MVPs and 1 of our 2 Cy Young winners
Arte lived the first couple of years off of what Disney built. You probably think Barry Switzer was responsible for the Super Bowl the Cowboys his first year when after having replaced Jimmy Johnson who built the team that won 2 of 3 before leaving. JJ built the Cowboys…..Switzer rode his coattails.
JAD, not really. The only thing he inherited was a bullpen. A great bullpen, but other than that, it was an ordinary team If you want to rip Moreno for not knowing the first thing about a bullpen, fine. I agree.
But Disney did not build those teams. Neither Glaus, Salmon, or Erstad produced a ten WAR with Moreno as owner. Lackey and Santana were the only leftovers pitchers who had a ten WAR..
Moereno did most of the building.
Brian harkins made that bullpen, I find that Weber and Donnelley being minor league 10+ veterans suddenly having sucess suspicious
No, you’re wrong. That was Disney own the team. The general manager was Billy Bavasi
He’s the one that drafted Tim salmon Troy glaus Garrett Anderson, Erstad Moreno had nothing to do with it. Moreno bought the team in 2003 angels had a few good years, Moreno road the tails of Disney. Moreno doesn’t invest in the farm system. doesn’t invest in player development Ron Washington couldn’t get all the coaches he wanted. Moreno is a penny pincher he couldn’t sign Clint hurdle, chili Davis. Moreno likes to invest in an island an island would be Albert Pujols when he said he was gonna spend money on pitching. He had picked Anthony Randone. He had picked Josh Hamilton that crippled payroll couldn’t plug up other positions. One player can’t win more than 10 games a season. It takes a team of nine players to win me. I’m gonna boycott attending any stadium.games I’ll watch the games this year from TV. Until the team is sold, then I’ll come back to Anaheim Stadium.
Moreno = 8 straight losing seasons and at 1615 – 1585 over the 21 years he’s owned them, a pathetic 30 games over .500 during his ownership despite the 3 MVP’s and 1 Cy Young winner.. The Angels are a bottom 3rd of MLB teams and totally irrelevant.
And when he finally canned Eppler only Cohen would hire him for want of being able to hire anyone else, but Mets fans still uniformly adore “Uncle Steve.”
Surreal world.
JAD, Two reasons why. 1). The Angels lost 7 good starting pitchers in about 18 months. 2). The GMs have no idea how to build a bullpen.
The only thing that I really blame Moreno is this Franchises complete and total failure to understand how important it is to build and maintain a bullpen.
Steve Cohen is good for one thing: Money to fund a baseball team New Yorkers like. He otherwise has a negative value as a human being and the world would be a better place without him, because he’s not even a good team owner.
Yes, Disney did build the teams of the late 90’s – early 2000’s. Review the Angel history and you’ll find that Disney effectively took control of the Angels in 1996.
Lack of a bullpen is just part of the problem……better starting pitching takes a tremendous load off the relief corp however Moreno refuses to pay going rate for bonafide ace/number 1 or true number 2 starting pitching. Case in point…….he didn’t resign Zack Greinke, chosing to spend instead on Josh Hamilton who Mike Scioscia didn’t want; Albert Pujols who most baseball people believe to be 3 years older than the age he claims to be; St. Louis definitely knew what they were doing when they let him walk…….his best year as an Angel was not as good as his worst year with the Cardinals. Furthermore Pujols doesn’t even rank in the top 25 of all-time Angel WAR while guys like Erick Aybar, Chone Figgins and Andrelton Simmons do. Hell, even David Eckstein and Adam Kennedy have higher Angel WAR than does Albert (money well spent Arte). Signed Anthony Rendon when most experts believed that the Halos were frontrunners to sign O.C. born and bred Gerritt Cole (again, Moreno is not going to pay in excess of $300M for a pitcher who only takes the field every 5-6 days……..how’s that been working out?). The scouting and player development departments were much better and certainly more appreciated under Disney than Moreno. Bottom line the Angel history under 21 years of Arte’s meddling are more or less .500 which is beyond weak for a team in the second largest media market and routinely in the top 3 in attendance. He may know billboards but that’s where it stops. The only thing Arte Moreno leads the Angels in is official team names despite having never relocating.
That too long of a paragraph. Dipoto didn’t want Hamilton either.
The Angels had the best record in baseball, then in a very short amount of time lost Weaver, Shoemaker, Heaney, Skaggs, Wilson and Richards to basically career ending injuries. They are just now recovering,
Does anyone think a single pitcher would have helped?
@WiffleBall,
Your comment reflects really badly on you, not Steve Cohen.
Too long a paragraph? Really? A book could be written detailing how badly Moreno has run the Halos. If he were an NFL owner he would sign an all-world QB at $35M – $40M a year and then surround him with second and third rate talent. Of course he would then spend every January watching the playoffs from his sofa.
You said Disney built the team. False. Who did Disney leave Moreno? Figgins, Kendrick, Heaney, Santana and a bullpen.
Hardly a juggernaut of talent.
That’s right……..Figgins, Kendrick, Heaney, Santana plus Glaus, Eckstein, Washburn, Aybar, Lackey, Napoli, Shields, K-Rod, Guess what all these guys have in common………all have a higher WAR while an Angel than Moreno’s half-billion dollar signings of Pujols, Hamilton, and Rendo. In fact several of the players I referenced have higher WAR than All 3 of Arte’s shiny toys combined. Yep…..when it comes to running a Major League Baseball team Arte Moreno is one hell of a billboard salesman. Let’s just say I’m glad he’s not managing my money.
Lol. And what was their total WAR with Moreno’s Angels?
Aybar made his debut in 2006. Nice player. Hardly a star. The only really good player was three years of Lackey.
Glaus, Eck, total war below 2. Washburn 3.7,
I mentioned the bullpen Napoli was 10 over, 5 years. Wow.
I have no problem with people who see the glass as half full or half empty. But more and more posters see the glass as empty or full.
If you didn’t notice the team was not built by Disney you are clearly seeing that glass as empty.
Just to add. In 2004, three of the top five bWAR players were brought in by Moreno. Including the AL MVP and the Angels best starting pitcher.
Again, the team went bad for two major reasons…the Angels lost an unusually large number of good starting pitchers in a short time and this franchises utter and complete disregard for how important a bullpen can be.
Do some research…..really isn’t that hard and it will keep you from looking like a homer. Napoli was 11.1 with the Angels and put up another 15.3 after that brilliant decision to trade him. You’re right about one thing, Aybar, “wasn’t a star”………that’s the point. He was however acquired by the Disney Angels as was Kennedy, as was Lackey as was Glaus and every other player I referenced and were crucial members of most if not all of those division winners. The Angels had their stars in the late 90’s and early to mid 2000’s in Salmon, Erstad, Anderson, Percival and then Disney surrounded them with a solid supporting cast.,,,,,,again all of which accumulated a higher WAR than Arte’s superstar purchases. Moreno had Vlad, Trout, Ohtani and then surrounded them with bargain basement support, many of whom should never have played above Triple AAA. Arte has proven time after time that he loves his 2 for 1 bargain bargain bin starting pitchers…….I’d list them all but I’m worried I’d end up with carpal tunnel.
And one more thing……3 of those 6 division titles you keep bringing up were won with Mike Scioscia in the dugout and Bill Stoneman as the GM………….both Disney hires. Stoneman stepped aside in 2007 despite winning his 3rd division title in 4 years because he had grown tired of Moreno’s micro-management and meddling; since then the Angels have had 4 GM’s (will be 5 when PM is fired after the 2024 season and Ron Washington is his 4th manager since Scioscia’s contract expired.
You have my condolences……..I’m a Dodger season ticket holder and can’t wait to see Ohtani play some October baseball.
I think you need to do research. The reason the Angels won was not Napoli. Are you kidding?
I keep talking about the pen. How much more do I have to talk about it.
And you have to be nuts if you think Disney deserves kudos for the Edmond Kennedy trade.
The fact is, AND it’s a fact, Moreno made the key moves that turned the 85 loss 2003 team into the winner they became.
As I sad, my issue is with the people who think the 16 ounce glass with 8 ounces of water is empty. You are that person.
Your reading and comprehension skills suck. I didn’t say the reason the Angels won during the time frame discussed was because of Napoli and the others I referenced but they were certainly key cogs in the team of bonafide major league baseball players drafted – signed – developed and/or traded for during the Disney era and that Moreno rode those Disney coattails to the first 3 division titles won after he bought the team. And my research is dead on…….Disney most definitely owned the Angels owned the Angels in 2000 when Edmonds was traded for Kennedy.
I gotta say, initially I thought you were simply too lazy to do some research but have come to the conclusion that you’re just simple. And just to be clear, under Moreno there is no glass, be it half full or half empty. The Angels are and have been horrible and Arte is a joke and I suspect……make that know that most Angel fans agree with me. Hell, Arte doesn’t even know where L.A. is……….thankfully for us Dodger fans Ohtani does.
And your reading comprehension sucks. The biggest pieces of those teams were the players Moreno brought in.
According to you that half full glass is completely empty.
Here is the deal…. When Moreno inherited a GM, the Angels made good moves. After Stoneman left, good moves were few and far between.
Moreno is incapable of hiring a good GM. Minasian is yet another in a long line of bad GMs.
And learn to use paragraphs.
I can’t tell you how many times Napoli would destroy the Angels and we gave have him away for a box of peanuts.
It hasn’t been cancerous since he bought The Angels. They were pretty much in the playoffs up until 2009. 6 years after he purchased the team from Disney. He hasn’t spend on the farm system like he should. he’s spent money on players. He tried to buy a pennant..
As Texas showed, nothing wrong with buying a pennant (and a World Series), if you do it right.
Winslow, And yet the best players those years were brought in under Moreno.
I don’t need paragraphs to make my point. Despite all the paragraphs you use you continue to be wrong.
Example: You were wrong about Napoli’s Angel career WAR.
Example: You wrote that Disney wasn’t behind the Kennedy – Edmonds trade………wrong.
Example: You disagreed with me that players brought in during Disney’s ownership played a bigger role in the first 3 Moreno division winners…………wrong.
Disney acqusitions totaled 20.7 WAR for the Angel 2004 division winner while Arte’s additions totaled 14..2. Same is true for the division winners in ’95 and ’97…… do your own research for those seasons.
Here’s another fact for you…….Moreno’s Angels have finished under .500 more than half the number of years he’s owned the team, including the last 8 years in a row (my money says it will soon be 9).
That enough paragraphs for you?
One more thing……..you really should drop the Halo11 moniker and quit sullying Fregosi’s legacy.
Arte has never spent money on players to win. He spent money on stars to fill seats.
Arte has never once allowed a GM to spend money on pitching because they don’t play everyday. The last pitchers he allowed a GM to sign for more than 3 years were Wilson and Weaver. Their last season in Anaheim was 2015.
Teams cannot win without top or the rotation starters and you cannot sign them for 1-2-3 years.
Arte has not tried to buy a pennant in the last decade because to buy a pennant you have to buy pitching
I’m sure his intentions were still to win. I’m assuming his mindset was that most pitchers eventually have arm injuries and longterm pitching contracts were riskier than investing in position players. If so that really backfired with Rendon.
Most Angels fans don’t seem to like Arte Moreno much even though they have had players like Trout and Ohtani while he has been the owner.
The dude hunted outs. If you weren’t paying attention on the bases he’d get you.
“A modest $4 million dollar deal.” Must be nice.But i can save his life. Can he say the same? And i do it every day for pennies.
k keep me posted
Are you one of the best nurses in the world? Poor comparison on many levels.
Army thinks so. At least thats what four deployments in combat zones tells me. Serving now at a military hospital helping wounded warriors. I work in a burn unit. So yeah, that makes me humble. It should make you thankful, not full of snark.
Yeah I was a Marine for decades with multiple combat deployments but I never sought out the comment section of a pro sports rumor league to self aggrandize myself by comparing me to pro athletes. Here is the reality sweet heart. There are tens if not hundreds of thousands of nurses just like you who can do the job just as sufficiently, not to sound ungrateful when it happens but that’s the truth if not there would be millions dying before their time because you can only be one place at a time and there are billions of people. On the other hand there is less than 100 people qualified to start at Shortstop for an MLB team and only about 10% of them at a potentially all star level. So whip the demand for nurses may be much greater than for short stops the supply is is exponentially larger as well. So thank you for your service take your steady pay check and your VA disability that you earned and quit self aggrandizing and complaining about pro athletes getting paid more than you. If you don’t like it become a pro athlete. semper Fi and remember Army stands for Ain’t real Marines yet. (Written in crayons before I ate them).
Maybe you should get back to those burn victims instead of hanging out on a message board patting yourself on the back.
Nicely put.
Sick burn!
So humble the way you’re saying you’re worth millions of dollars for doing a job that requires a community college degree.
@Donk people join the service for a variety of reasons. I’m sure the majority of those in the military and veterans would easily slap you around like the punk you sund like.
For those of you who served the majority of us appreciate your service and sacrifices.
Yeah guess you got a point, I mean you are what you eat, and by that logic….
Without the military, there is no United States. Wise up, kid.
At least you are humble about it…
You only get paid Pennie’s a day. Bad career move.
I have never met a registered nurse who didn’t make plenty of coin. My aunt was a nurse her husband a CPA. He died a few years back from a stroke but she is a multi millionaire.
Not from nursing (sad reality)
Most of the responses to your comment are shameful.
Course, we live in a world where entertainers are very highly compensated (though not nearly as much as team owners, for doing nothing) and the wealthiest man is a childish bigot who was born rich, but people worship that fool.
Nurses should be valued more. Doctors… Maybe, but it seems like doctors are always on vacation, so they probably aren’t hurting. Teachers? Super undervalued compared to most other nations in terms of pay and in terms of how society views them (mostly due to right wing propaganda).
Simmons did things few or nobody else could do, though. I can’t claim he wasn’t worth his pay and his team owner no doubt profited far more from his skills.
Baseball players generate their teams billions of dollars in revenue, so it makes sense for them to be paid millions in return.
You are obviously bitter and I am truly sorry for that but let’s look at it this way: There are 5.4 MILLION nurses in the United States. There are 945 major league level baseball players.
There have only been around 20,000 professional baseball players, total, across 120-ish years.
There are 5,662 nurses for every single major league baseball player in the United States.
There are 945 major league baseball players, across 30 teams. That’s around 31.5 players per team- with 25 players on the major league roster and around 5 players in the minors who are on major league deals and can get recalled to the major league roster- many of whom are making league minimum or near league minimum.
Out of those 945 baseball players, generally speaking around 350 of them are on multi-million dollar deals, ranging from $1 million to $70 million per season, with a bunch of guys on league minimum or near league minimum contracts of around $740,000 to $999,000.
That means the average professional baseball player on a major league roster makes around $8.23M salary at the level above $1 million per year and when factoring in the sub $1 million salaries it drops to $4.3 million a year.
That’s entertainment for you. Very few people do it relative to normal jobs and a lot more money is voluntarily pumped into the industry by consumers.
No nurse should be making $4 million a year- should they be making $250,000 or $500,000 a year rather than most averaging $110,000 a year? Yes.
But even at the major league minimum of $740,000 that’d be an absolutely massive bump across 5.4 MILLION people vs 945 people.
Anyway- your comparison is invalid and your justification is invalid- and I am someone who values nurses greatly, consider them life saving integral parts of society who don’t get paid enough.
Are thousands of people lining up around the block every day just to watch you do nurse things?
There were hundreds of thousands of people, millions, lining up during the pandemic for life and death testing and treatment by nurses. Life and good health is more important than baseball and some of these nurses gave their lives and health trying to save the sick and dying.
The last good transaction the Angels have made.
There are a couple that could still go either way, there were a couple that were OK, but Simba was the last good one.
Ohtani wasn’t a bad signing
Did the Angels choose Ohtani or did Ohtani choose the Angels?
Since every team in baseball would have signed Ohtani to that contract, I’ll choose the later.
But if that’s the example you would like to use regarding an astute Angel transaction, I think that speaks for itself.
Of his six years as an Angel, Ohtani gave us two good seasons.
He gave the Angels 1 good, 1 very good, and three great seasons.
Not sure how you only got 2 good seasons.
I’m referring to the total package as a pitcher/hitter. He was recovering a good part of the time from TJ.
As a hitter, yes.
@Prov, considering he made a total of $39M in salary from the Angels with $30M coming in the last yr alone. He was an absolute steal regardless how many years they got dual protection out of him.
His on field production alone theyvpaid pennies on the dollar for. That’s other even getting into the amount of profit generated off of that $39M.
He had three great pitching seasons, and those 50 innings his rookie year, along with his hitting is why was the deserving of ROY.
He was good the following season. Horrible in 2020, and great the last three years.
So did what happened in 2020 count or not? you guys are wildly inconsistent with that.
(Wildly inconsistent: whatever fits your narrative at the moment)
So @uncommonSense…
How am I inconsistent?
Never said YOU were. I didn’t realize you were the sum of all “you guys”
So what’s inconsistent here then? The guy was good to utterly amazing for 5 of 6 seasons with the Angels. The lone bad season being one of most unique in the history of MLB. Sorry I think most teams would be more than pleased with Ohtani’s production as a whole especially for what they paid.
I’d also assume every team in baseball would jump at the chance to pay $39M for that same production for the next 6 seasons, even the A’s….
Hey @commonsense, lol, when you insult someone put some information in the post. Your post had none.
I can’t help that you can’t read
I can’t help you have no common sense.
@Uncommom, your mistake was lumping everyone together as “you guys” and claiming they (we?) are “wildly inconsistent.” There are are lots of commenters here, so there will be a wide range of opinions on nearly every topic.
He was handcuffed by eppler, and mike. On the down years even if you want to call it that. He was sitting out a lot of games especially since he couldn’t pitch and dh until the rule changed. He wouldn’t bat the day before, the day of, and the day after until he had tommy john. They slowly moved away from it, and his production went up. It could’ve been very well something ohtani wanted, but that’s why his numbers were sample sizes
@gbs42 it was more of a joking observation that everyone on here makes everything good or bad based on their own bias.
Nothing against Ohtani of course but how come you guys don’t mention Trout? I don’t pay enough attention to the Angels to opine but would Angel fans generally suggest he was not worth the money they paid him? I would think after retunes on guys like pujols and Rendon that Angel fans would feel Trout was a bargain for the production they got. Am I missing something in regards to his production?
Nah, Trout is a stud and deserves to have a team built around him.
There are plenty of comments about Trout not being worth his salary.
It’s likely true, but I honestly don’t care. He could easily be the best one team player since the end of WWII.
I don’t mind the overpay.
Dude made some great plays in an Angels uniform.
Really good player.
He’s had 1 outlier season out of 6 seasons. Said season was quite unique in itself given the circumstances. Still even including 2020 for what it was statistically, what Ohtani provided in production and revenue over his time with the Angles was insane for 6 years at a total of $39M.
I thought he was going to play in that Baseball United league? I guess not…
He did get drafted for the Baseball United league but they changed their minds and only played 2 “All Star” games. I think he was announced to play in those games, but I am unsure if he actually did. I didn’t watch the games when they kept changing the format around.
The league officially starts in 2024; they never changed their mind.
@Reynaldo my bad I saw the dates as 2023 when I first read it. I admit I do not keep up with it because it is ever changing. I can see him still playing in the league if there are just a few games a year, but this league seems to be a mess at best so far. I really hope they have success because I am all for expansion of baseball into other parts of the world.
The league officially starts in November of 2024; he may still play in it like other former players who play in the Dominican Winter Leagues.
One of the top defensive SS I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot. Happy retirement!
Wondering if he’s going out on his terms. Considering what Boston put out last year, I’d take him today at short even in decline and put Story at second where he was superb (assuming no big trade is coming).
He’s not going out on his own terms. Bat declined to unplayable, defense declined to below average.
That’s just simply not true. He was his usual excellent defensive self in 2021 and got struck by injury again in 2022. Some players don’t want to go through grueling rehab again and also lose the motivation to play the game.
Surprises me in that sometimes you regroup for that final fling.
What surprised me the most in reading this article is the fact that he was first called up in 2012. I don’t know why, but I thought he was a major leaguer longer than just ten years.
I’ll still go back to watch his defensive highlights to get hyped up. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Was surprised he ended up with only 4 GG.
He didn’t hit enough to win more. Or he didn’t play in the right city. Obviously Jeter was better defensively (cough, cough).
As first reported by kellin.
Congratulations on a 10+ year MLB career to a really great dude!
Who?
Andrelton Simmons
If you don’t know who he is, your baseball needs the “1” removed. Maybe the “7” also.
GB. That is one of the best posts I’ve ever read.
@gb spot on
@gbs42 I literally have never posted here. I chose to get an account because your post was absolutely gold. Congratulations…you made me laugh at someone who I have never met. Well done, well done. (Tips my hat)
This comment just makes you and everyone who upvotes you look like you don’t really follow baseball unless it’s the world series or the all-star game. Within baseball circles, Andrelton Simmons is well recognized.
He was a career role player, a career complimentary player, a career baseball equivalent of the sixth man, etc. and he was paid very fairly for his level of production and the way he was deployed in the field. A very solid career.
To me, Simmons is the epitome of ‘average’ successful baseball player who made plenty of money, played a good number of years, but was never an A-lister or ever in the midst of any high profile transactions or key figures in a line up.
Just a solid professional baseball player.
Definitely underselling his defense there. A 172.4 defense-fielding and positional adjustment combined (above average) total score over 11 years and an average UZR of 15.8 is insane and in no way average. The bat was largely average yes, but he more than made up for that on the field. Heck of a career. Fun guy to watch pick it out there.
37 career WAR is more than a complimentary player. Even if you put a 4 million dollar amount on WAR he was significantly underpaid.
I remember when he signed with the Cubs, the Cubs had Nico, who is a tremendous defensive player in his own right, playing short, and the staff was talking about next level Simmons was even without the ability to really throw. He ended up putting up 4 DRS and 3 OAA for the Cubs that year while playing short…. In only 104 innings…. 12 games, 4 DRS and 3 OAA while barely being able to throw to first.
Have to agree with elmedius. You come pretty close to insulting him by calling him a successfully ‘average’ player. His glove was far superior than the vast majority of players. Really don’t need to post stats because elm covered that pretty well. My inclination is that you don’t appreciate elite fielding enough.
Complimentary player?? Your comments again showing someone who is a fan of stats(seemingly only traditional stats) and baseball news opposed to a true fan of the sport. Simmons was an amazing defender and ones of the best defensive players in the game for a decade. His roughly average offensive output was very tolerable with the value his glove provided.
@TrillionaireTeamOperator You should watch some baseball, pretty good sport to watch.
@Slow day..I got a LOL from that.
37.3 WAR in parts of 11 seasons from 2012 to 2022 = 3.4 WAR per season or more than 50% better than league average over that period.
He is the best defensive shortstop in that period and its not even close. He lapped the field
fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?lg=all&qua…
Simmons was a solid pick up for the Halos. I was sorry to see him go.
How does IKF get 7..5 MM to play while this guy retires? Either IKF is way way overpaid, or defensive specialists aren’t worth as much in the real adult world as WAR says they are.
Here’s the problem in defensive specialists nowadays:
IKF (career): 6 seasons
oWAR (offense): 6.0
dWAR (defense): 6.9
Andrelton Simmons (career): 11 seasons
oWAR (offense): 15.5
dWAR (defense): 28.5
*Simba has three 4-dWAR seasons and one 5-dWAR season (2017) when he 5.1-WAR on his defense alone. Good grief.
Also, bref states that the player’s defensive position is counted twice (once in offensive WAR and once in dWAR). WAR just compares a guy to a AAA callup, but WAA compares him to the average player. Even within that, you could probably get a better hitter from the minor leagues than these guys.
Simmons can’t hit or field anymore. What he could do 5 years ago isn’t relevant in terms of paying him today.
On top of that, it’s universally expected the Kiner-Falefa deal makes no sense.
Show us where it says its counted twice.
Players Runs over Replacement = Player_runs – ReplPlayer_runs = (Player_runs – AvgPlayer_runs) + (AvgPlayer_runs – ReplPlayer_runs)
baseball-reference.com/about/war_explained.shtml
In the Glossary section under player value – batting:
“oRAR — Offensive Runs above Replacement Level
oWAR + dWAR DOES NOT EQUAL WAR, pos would be counted 2x”
It is repeated multiple times throughout, but you can just calculate the oWAR + dAAR for each player each season and see that adding those and subtracting positional adjustments gets you within 0.1 or 0.2 of WAR.
Still haven’t shown where its counted twice.
It actually is saying oWAR + dWAR doesn’t = WAR because if it did the position ADJUSTMENT would be counted twice if it was equal.
That says the opposite of what you are saying.
I have no clue what you are saying. 2014 Simmons: 0.5 oWAR + 2.9 dWAR – 0.8 positional adjustment = 2.6 WAR
The 8 is added to the oWAR and dWAR, so you have to subtract it to avoid double counting. Maybe, I explained it oddly.
I think part of the difference between IKF and Simmons is age. If Simmons was younger and a FA this year, he would be paid.
His bat completely disappeared in 2021, and he spent most of last year hurt. Completely reasonable for teams to not want to give him a ML contract
It was an honor to watch you play. You played shortstop as Baryshikov danced. Enjoy your retirement.
Darn….His 37.1 WAR is only 1.7 away from HOF-worthy(According to some, Baines 38.8 WAR) 😉
Baines is really 58 WAR or so because 20 got deducted just for the position he played, You can’t negatively affect an outcome of a game defensively if your position is never on the field for defense.
Edgar was primarily a DH and had a 68.4 WAR in 2700 less at-bats and minus-dWAR his last 10 seasons!
Edgar also stole 500+ bases, that could have helped.
So? There can be more than 1 DH in the Hall. Baines doesn;’t need to be better than all of them. He doesn’t even need to be better than ANY of them.
There is always going to be a worst player at a position no matter how many players are included. If you have 10 third basemen inducted, half the people would argue that #9 and #10 are not good enough to be in and the other half would argue that #11 and #12 should be in already.
Baines IS a Hall of Fame player. When I first started following baseball closely (1985-ish), Baines was one of the most feared hitters in the league. I just don’t get why people act as if they are personally damaged by Baines having a plaque in a museum.
Edgar Martinez stole 49 bases in his career.
Baines doesn’t belong in hall my friend. Never a elite player.
And yet he is. So I guess you will just have to alter your perception of this topic or be wrong for the rest of your life.
Hiflew has me blocked it appears. But yet another clueless comment on his part. Yes Baines or any DH can and does have a negative impact. They tie up a valuable roster spot while providing 0 value to their team from a defensive aspect. They also monopolize a spot in the order that could provide rest from field for other valuable bats while keeping them in the lineup.
The notion that pure DHs have no negative impact on a roster is simply false and absolutely shortsighted.
I didn’t have you blocked, but I do now.
Baines wasn’t elected like most HOF’ers, he got in via the Veteran’s Committee by the skin of his teeth, with 12 of 16 votes to just barely hit the %75 needed, and if he’s a HOF, then there’s about another 100 guys just as deserving or even more so! I’d call him Hall of Pretty Good!
My bad Hiflew, it had no reply button under your name. Sorry tho the notion that DHs have no negative value is simply not true. Like I said they block other bats from getting rest from the field and most importantly they tie up a roster spot.
For some they are worth the roster spot overall. Guys like Papi, Edgar, Ohtani, etc. But even in the case of Ohtani, the Angels were probably a bad fit for any pure DH. With an aging Trout and his the health issues he’s already faced, that DH spot is huge to keep his bat in lineup and give him rest from the field.
As for Baines, I know you did not bring it up. But man does it get old those that do. Yes Baines most likey does not belong in HOF. He barely stayed on ballot the few years he was in. It took a Committee that had some biased in his favor for him to get in. But 2 wrongs don’t make a right and bringing him up in regards to other players does nothing to solve the problem. There are others in the HOF even less worthy than Baines as well.
theringer.com/mlb/2018/12/10/18135296/harold-baine…
There’s a good article on Baines and HOF. It also needs to be noted Baines is revered by Jerry Reinsdorf the owner of the White Sox and one of the 16 members of the Committee.
In the article though what I found really interesting is the fact that 22 of the 25 statistically least deserving HOFers got in via Committee. It seems something clearly needs to be done to try and mitigate biased on these Committees. Maybe have alternate members who can stand in for discussion or vote when their is any personal link between candidates and Committee members.
Andruw Jones barely stayed on the HOF ballot in his first year at a little over 7%. Dwight Evans had about the same amount of support as Baines and some people (myself included) believe he is a HOFer too. Ted Simmons was only on 3.7% of ballots in his lone year eligible.
What happens with the voters is completely irrelevant to what happens at a later voting.
As far as being worthy of a roster spot, for 22 years people with more baseball knowledge than you or I decided that Baines was worthy of a spot on their roster. I am just sick of everyone talking about Baines like he was a Pony Leaguer that just got in because LaRussa was his manager. He was one of the best hitters of the 1980s and accumulated over 2800 hits in a 22 year career. He deserves better than being besmirched all the time.
Definitely Hall of Pretty Good. And there is nothing wrong with that. Roughly 1% of former players get in. For anyone to make MLB is a hxll of an accomplishment let alone make it 10 years to be HOF eligible. And Baines was by no means just a made the eligibility requirements. He had a very good career, just was simply never dominant and missed all of the widely viewed HOF milestones. I just can’t see any valid case being made for him belonging. But he is a HOFer, so people need to get over it and hopefully the HOF reforms Committee’s so if cronyism is playing a factor they try and remedy it in some fashion.
I can’t argue against Jones and Evans. In my opinion they are both clearly HOF worthy. Jones arguably best ever defensively at his position. Evans was no slouch defensively as well.
Much of the blowback on Evans I ve read or heard is usually lack of dominant seasons, which is true but kinda to me what is difference between first ballot guys and the fringe guys. Then there’s that “compilier” argument. That one I think is ludicrous, the very act of playing is compiling statistics. It is just trying to label a player as something and discredit them for being productive for a long time.
Weak my friend , very very weak. Baines doesn’t belong in the hall among the mantles and mays. They got it wrong.Hopefully, with time and a growing knowledge of the game you will comprehend why.Oh sorry you only started watching in the mid 80ish .
@Preaching, many in HOF don’t come close to measuring upto Mantle or Mays. That’s kind of why first ballot guys are kind of the defacto Hall within the Hall.
However I do agree Baines doesn’t belong in . I feel Reinsdorf being on the Committee and his influence is largely why Baines is in.
Wow, the point was extraordinary to make a point. My point? You never had 200 hits in a season. You never hit 30 home runs. A career 280 hitter. 3000 hits ? 20 plus years and drove in 100 runs 3 times ? Lol
Knowledge does not indicate lack of bias.
The Manager can give players days off. That’s how it worked before the DH. If you have an elite bat for the position, who would otherwise not be playing, its helpful to the team. If you’re rotating IKF thru the lineup to give players rest by DHing them, that would be hurting the lineup.
So you admit he is in the Hall Of Fame. Many players get missed by the voters. Being added by the veterans committee simply means it was over due. Lou Whitaker is still waiting.
Eh..if he had 65 WAR I still don’t think he would make it. Selling defense to the HOF board is about as effective as selling democracy to terroritst
Ozzie Smith would beg to differ. However, he played for 19 years and did that cool backflip, so maybe he’s the exception. The problem is really with the writers, not the Veterans Committee. Much more of a popularity contest with them. Lou Whitaker is the perfect example. His career WAR, JAWS, and WAR/162 are all HOF level. Unlike his HOF contemporaries, he didn’t have a few really hot seasons to raise his profile so he never made it past his first year.
What struck me about his defense was the baseball iq. He always made the best decision on where to throw, let a blooper fall so he could make a double play etc. Things that have to happen so fast but he was three steps ahead.
I think at one point Scioscia had to threaten to put a leash on him before he ran over one of the outfielders. The dude could cover most of left field and shallow center by himself and ended up in the outfielders shadow a lot. Incredible instincts
Congratulations on a fine career. You were able to entertain many fans with your superb defense. Goodluck.
Could’ve been the next Ozzie. Fine career by Sim.
Lol lol please.
Look, Simmons put up 2 defensive WAR or more in 7 of his 11 seasons. Tell me that is not impressive.
Yes but please Ozzie was at another level beyond statistics.
The only thing that Ozzie has over Simmons is longevity. Which is a pretty big deal. Simmons was just as great as Ozzie, but only for about half of the time.
Simmons also had the intangibles “beyond statistics” that Ozzie had.
Maybe the next Vizquel, but he was not on Ozzie’s level. And that is not really meant as a shot, because even being close to Ozzie’s level is a tremendous accomplishment.
Amazing SS. Good luck post career Simba!
Missed his pension by about 9 months it looks like. I suppose he’ll be alright.
It’s not like he gets no pension. He’ll still get 95% of the maximum or whatever the math works out to.
Good point, Ted!
I guess he will just have to survive on his $71 million in career earnings instead of worrying about the $350 a month he missed out on in those 9 months.
Could be significant for him in another 20 years when it might pay him 300K+ annually.
Looks like I am not the only one who curiously follows whether guys pass that 10yr threshold?
Best shortstop I personally saw. Had a great feel for the defensive side of the ball.
7.9 WAR in 2017 and a Top 10 finish for MVP.
Average of 4.9 WAR/162 games. That’s Ozzie Smith territory.
Huge peak years. Difficult personal issues cut short a longer career.
You didn’t see many then my friend.
We’re not saying he’s BETTER than Ozzie Smith, we just thought he could’ve been.
I’m old and I can assure you I’ve seen ’em all.
You just see things differently than I do. Not worth the snark.
Johnny definitely agree I see things differently. Hell I would take the blade and his 200 average over this kid. Peace.
He’s the second best defensive shortstop ever, behind your boy Ozzie.
Been attending MLB games regularly since 1978 when Ozzie started playing and a full season ticket holder for the Angels all but 5 of those years. Ozzie is the only SS I have ever seen as good or better than Simba.
From age 22 to 32 Simba averaged 2.6 dWAR
From age 23 to 33 Ozzie averaged 2.6 dWAR
There was no DRS when Ozzie played, so we can only compare TotalZone Fielding Runs. Using the same ages Simba 124. Ozzie 139. No one else has ever been over 100 for an 11 season period.
Stats or eye test or any test you want. Simba was one of the best to ever play the position defensively.
From 2012 to 2022 no one came close to Simmons on defense. He was in a class all his own.
His retirement tour has been deferred.
Congratulations to Simmons on his retirement. I hope he stays involved in the game, perhaps as a scout or a coach assisting talented players in Curacao.
best shortstop i ever watched play and that includes ozzie smith
Tied for the 11th best defensive MLB player in history. And based on JAWS, he’s the 49th best SS in the history of the game. Better than HOFers John Ward, George Wright,, Martín Dihigo & Leo Durocher.
If he could have kept playing elite SS to age 32 even and then tailed off for a few years of merely good SS he’d have been in the HoF too. He was that good.
Really glad to see Simmons get all this love. I hated seeing him go to the Angels. Really glad especially to see so many Angels and Braves fans expressing their appreciation together.
Hope he comes back to creat another defensive whiz. Enjoy retirement, Simba!
Is Simmons the best player to never make an allstar team?
At least one better player didnt: Kirk Gibson.
Kirk Gibson and arguably Eric Chavez
Tim Salmon and Juan Pierre
The one deal Hart and Coppy did that I hated the second it was made, trading Simba to the Angels. He was young enough and signed long enough, he could’ve been a Brave his entire career. Best defensive shortstop I’ve ever seen.
That trade never made any sense at all to me. They should have been able to get back a better prospect than Newcomb if they insisted on moving Andrelton.
Hated them trading Alex Wood to the Dodgers for Olivera. One of the worst deals in Braves history. Ranks right up there w/Dusty Baker to the Dodgers.
This is why baseball players play and should play every day like it’s the final day of their career since they wouldn’t know it until it’s way over. Remember that this goes to everyone not just baseball players, capisci?
Live life revved, every second in high gear, devouring experience, forcing things?
Nothing’s more likely to leave you unable to appreciate the ebb and flows and actual experience of life than that.
He lived the dream and can look back with no regrets. I hope he stays involved with the game.
His 2017 was one of the greatest defensive seasons in baseball history.
Cheers Simba. Enjoy your travels.
Greatest SS of all time if he could’ve just hit like he did in his 20s once he hit 30.
“I love a good roast, you’re a real card Reede,
do Simmons”
“Simmons is old, he should’ve been out of the game year ago but he can’t go home because he hates his wife” -Fletcher Reede
That’s off the top of my head. Fairly certain that it’s the exact quote.
Great movie.
Remember when Minasian’s first move ever was trading for Jose Iglesias to take over for Simmons? He didn’t last the year. Jack Mayfield became the SS one year after Simmons! It was a sign of things to come as Iglesias had one year left on his deal starting a revolving door of mediocre players w one year left on their deals.
Simmons became a clubhouse liability with his public anti-vaxxer stance (regardless of how you personally feel about it). Combine that with a bat that became utterly unwatchable and quickly declining defense as his already limited speed declined into molasses status.
He was a very good player in his 20s though!
And good for him for taking that stance. He wasn’t the only one speaking up on the issue, so no, he wasn’t a clubhouse liability. If he could still play at a major league level he’d be on a roster somewhere.
You can always tell who are the stat boys and who actually watched a player actually play the games.
Yes
His time with Cubs was short, and the bat was clearly not there anymore but he could still flash the leather. Congrats on a great career, one of the greatest defensive players ever.
Another career ruined by the Cubs
Braves never should have traded Simmons and timbrel. some minor league busts, Sean Newcomb for 3 good years out of 6, the only back to bacon was Jesse Chavez in the ws.
better defensively. Should just be a coach.
Oh my, I knew he was damn good.. but he was also DAAAMN he was good!
yea as a braves fan i wanted simba over dansby any day of the week. hated to see him go
Jesus christ The dude made a total of just under 72 million for his entire career Meanwhile ohtani We’ll be pretty much making more Then that in one season Of course including endorsements and Wherever else he makes money off of Just crazy His AAV Without That thing He did to where he doesn’t get most of the money until From 2034-2043 or whatever Is 70 million alone smfh
Wait till Shohei signs a $125 mil/year podcast deal. He will be a billionaire within the next few years. Faster than any other athlete. And yes, Ippei will be his interpreter! Ippei has a huge fan base himself in fact. It will be huge!
I think the Halo’s always appreciated Simba but he never really got huge national recognition because they were never in the playoffs. Halo’s are in as sad a state as I’ve ever seen them. Lord have mercy on them.
Trumbo, I couldn’t agree any more. It’s a sobering reality.
As DieHard fans as we are, I am consistently hearing from a lot of them that they’ve FINALLY had enough. Need a break.
Ohtani was the melting point.
Even I haven’t been this down on the team since they let Ryan walk. At least Ryan didn’t go to the Dodgers
Braves ended up losing the Andrelton trade huge. The only piece left from dealing him in the Atlanta system is Huascar Ynoa if you follow the series of transactions over the years.
Thought he retired 15 years ago
When nobody wants to pay for your services any longer, what is left for you is to retire. This happens plenty in the non-sports world also. You bust your butt and give your all for employer(s), then due to new owners, new management, new technology, etc. you are unceremoniously shown the door. Then as you seek another employment opportunity the intentional discrimination (that is supposed to be against the law – but how do you prove it) begins and nobody will hire you.
So you retire, even though you didn’t want to retire.
More time to be a RFK Jr reply guy
Simmons career was cut short by ankle injuries.
Twice with the Angels while running out a grounder at first. Hits the bag full speed and that leading foot just craters. I thought he snapped it clean off the 2nd time. He never recovered mentally of physically and was never the same. Maybe the depression from that pushed his mental health over the edge?
I remember when I first saw him play and thought he was so much more polished than the flashy Rafael Furcal with the glove.
Furcal was one of those guys that would field the ball, then wait a few seconds and throw a bullet that sometimes didn’t beat the runner. Furcal seemed to always be looking for a way to show off his arm. Simmons would field the ball and get rid of it so quickly that he could throw it gently and still easily get the runner out. He rarely had to uncork a fastball because he was just so quick with his transition and really didn’t seem to want to be a show-off.
I know it’s just baseball, but I really wish Simmons could have played for the Braves a few more years rather than getting traded. He just played the game the right way.