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Ryan Lavarnway Announces Retirement

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Ryan Lavarnway will be chatting with MLBTR readers tomorrow at 10am Central. Click here to ask questions in advance or join in the chat when it’s in progress!

Veteran catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who spent parts of 10 seasons in the Majors and 15 seasons in pro ball overall, announced his retirement on Wednesday in a thoughtful and poignant piece at The Athletic. Fans of any team are encouraged to read through Lavarnway’s piece, which deftly details the trials and tribulations of a prototypical journeyman who overcame a self-admitted lack of athleticism in large part due to a “sixth tool” — being “really, really good at not quitting.”

Lavarnway, 35, was a sixth-round pick by the Red Sox in 2008 and was twice named the organization’s minor league offensive player of the year. He’s twice suited up for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic and played 25 games with the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox.

Lavarnway never cemented himself as a regular in the big leagues despite hitting his way into being a prospect of some note with the Sox. The well-traveled backstop writes that he wore 18 different uniforms over his career and was optioned, traded, claimed on waivers or released a combined 26 times throughout his career. Along the way, he appeared for the Red Sox, Pirates, Braves, Athletics, Marlins, Reds, Indians and Orioles.

While he never topped 46 big league games or 166 big league plate appearances in a season, Lavarnway saw a total of 165 MLB games and 486 trips to the plate, during which he batted .217/.272/.345 with nine homers. He wound up accruing more than three years of Major League service time throughout his many MLB stints. Lavarnway also spent parts of 11 seasons in Triple-A, where he was a combined .267/.360/.432 hitter with 79 more homers in 2580 plate appearances. Best wishes to Lavarnway in whatever next step he pursues.

Jordan Yamamoto Announces Retirement

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Right-hander Jordan Yamamoto took to Twitter today to announce his retirement. “I have decided to walk away from the game I love,” his post reads. “It’s definitely bittersweet. As I sit on my flight back home, there are so many emotions I’m feeling but none is regret. This has been an amazing journey and nothing short of unbelievable. A little kid from Hawaii with a dream. A dream to play in the MLB. If you would have told me at 10 years old that I would go on to be a big league pitcher and hold a franchise record, I would have never believed you. It is crazy and only right that I end my career the same way it started. On a back field game in Arizona. It’s poetry if you ask me.” He then goes on to thank all of the many people who have been a part of his journey, including his family, agents, teammates, coaches, staff members and fans.

Yamamoto, who turns 27 in May, was a 12th round draft pick of the Brewers in 2014. Despite that modest draft stock, he impressed in his first professional seasons, including a 2017 season where he posted a 2.51 ERA in 111 innings at Class-A Advanced. That performance was strong enough to get the attention of the Marlins, as Yamamoto was one of four players they acquired in the trade that sent Christian Yelich to Milwaukee.

Things continued to go well for Yamamoto in 2018, despite a few trips to the injured list. He made 13 starts with a 1.83 ERA at three different levels, finishing the year in Double-A. He then made another six starts in the Arizona Fall League with a 2.08 ERA in that time. The Marlins added him to their 40-man roster in November to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft and Baseball America ranked him as the club’s #18 prospect going into 2019.

He was able to make his major league debut in 2019, making 15 starts with a 4.46 ERA, as well as 12 more Double-A starts with a 3.58 ERA. He seemed to be part of a wave of young rotation talent in Miami, alongside guys like Sandy Alcantara, Pablo López and others. Unfortunately, things wouldn’t continue on that trajectory in the seasons to come, largely due to injury. Yamamoto landed on the injured list late in 2019 and had diminished velocity in 2020, getting tattooed for an ERA of 18.26 in 11 1/3 innings that year.

Prior to the 2021 campaign, the Marlins designated him for assignment and then flipped him to the Mets. That would go on to be another frustrating season for Yamamoto, as he spent the beginning of the year being shuttled between Triple-A and the majors before a shoulder injury sent him to the IL from May until September. He was designated for assignment in April of 2022 and cleared waivers, sticking with the Mets but without a roster spot. He made 24 appearances in the minors last year with an ERA of 6.00. He reached free agency at season’s end and signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in January but was recently reassigned to minor league camp.

Yamamoto has now decided it’s time to hang up his cleats and start the next phase of his life. He appeared in 21 major league games, tossing 96 2/3 innings in that time with a 6.05 ERA. He struck out 98 batters and earned five wins. The franchise record that he referenced in his statement was that he started his career with 14 scoreless frames for the Marlins. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Yamamoto on achieving his dream of making it to the majors and wish him the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

AL West Notes: Athletics, Bleday, Munoz, Trammell, deGrom, Eovaldi, Schroeder

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The Athletics announced several cuts to their Spring Training roster today, and outfielder JJ Bleday was one of the players optioned to Triple-A.  Bleday had been competing with Cristian Pache and Esteury Ruiz for the center field job, and manager Mark Kotsay told reporters (including The San Francisco Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara) that “it’s not an easy decision” in picking between the trio since the A’s eventually want to see what all of them can do at the big league level.  All of Pache, Ruiz, and Bleday will “impact this club at some point” in 2023, Kotsay said, but in determining the Opening Day roster “there’s going to be factors that go into it…not just performance but roster construction, depth at the position.”

Kotsay also noted that Pache might have an advantage since he is out of minor league options, whereas Ruiz and Bleday both have options remaining.  Bleday and Ruiz each joined the A’s this offseason, as Bleday was acquired from the Marlins for A.J. Puk last month, and Ruiz came to Oakland as part of the big three-team, nine-player swap with the Brewers and Braves that saw Sean Murphy land in Atlanta.  Pache, meanwhile, was part of last March’s blockbuster deal with Atlanta, as Pache was one of four players the A’s acquired in exchange for Matt Olson.  Earlier this month, MLBTR’s Steve Adams wrote about the many outfielders vying for playing time for Oakland this season, beyond just the center field situation.

More from around the AL West…

  • Andres Munoz underwent foot surgery last October, and the Mariners reliever told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that three screws were placed into his ankle as part of the bone-fusion procedure.  The injury dated back to Munoz’s days as a high school track athlete, and a 2020 procedure to remove a piece of fractured bone from the ankle didn’t do the trick, as Munoz said that during the 2022 season, “on almost every pitch, I felt some kind of pain.”  Under those circumstances, Munoz’s 2022 numbers are all the more remarkable, as the right-hander posted a 2.49 ERA and an elite 39.2% strikeout rate over 65 innings out of Seattle’s bullpen.  The Mariners have been taking it slow with Munoz this spring, as he has started throwing live batting practice sessions and is slated to pitch in a Cactus League game during the coming week.
  • In other Mariners news, manager Scott Servais told MLB.com and other media that outfielder Taylor Trammell is “probably three weeks away, something like that, from a bat in his hand.  But he’s focused right now on gaining strength back in that wrist and the hand.”  Trammell underwent hamate bone surgery in mid-February, and was initially projected for a recovery period of at least seven weeks.  Servais’ update would seemingly end any chance of a return for Trammell at the low end of that projected timeline, though a 10-day injured list stint already seemed inevitable to give the outfielder more time to ramp up.
  • Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi will both start minor league games on Monday, according to The Athletic’s Levi Weaver (Twitter link).  DeGrom will pitch for the Rangers’ Double-A team, while Eovaldi takes the hill for the Triple-A club.  Due to some tightness in his side early in camp, deGrom has yet to pitch in any games this spring, as Texas has been cautious in gradually managing his workload.  Eovaldi pitched in one Cactus League game before also feeling some tightness in his side, so he was briefly shut down to recuperate.
  • Former Astros prospect Jayson Schroeder announced his retirement from baseball via his Instagram page (hat tip to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle).  Schroeder was the Astros’ second-round pick in the 2018 draft, but he struggled during his brief pro career, posting a 6.95 ERA over 134 2/3 minor league innings.  Houston released Schroeder in December.

Mitch Moreland Announces Retirement

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Twelve-year big league veteran Mitch Moreland didn’t play during the 2022 season, and the 37-year-old confirmed to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com that his days as a player are now behind him. “I’m retired,” Moreland said, noting that he’s enjoyed being able to spend the past year-plus with his family. Bradford adds that Moreland is currently in Red Sox camp to work with some younger players after getting an invite from chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and manager Alex Cora.

Selected by the Rangers in the  17th round of the 2007 draft, Moreland was in the big leagues just over three years later, making a strong impression with a .255/.364/.469 slash and nine homers in 173 plate appearances as a rookie. That strong showing set the stage for a torrid postseason effort in which a then 24-year-old Moreland batted .348/.400/.500 with a homer and four doubles, helping Texas advance to the World Series, where they fell to the Giants in a 4-1 series loss.

From that point forth, Moreland was entrenched as a big leaguer. He logged regular time in each of the next 11 seasons, serving as a slick-fielding, righty-mashing slugger in the middle of the order for the Rangers, Red Sox and — more briefly — Padres and Athletics. Along the way, Moreland won a Gold Glove for his work at first base with the Rangers and secured an All-Star nod with the Red Sox, who signed him as a free agent prior to the 2017 season and twice re-signed him in free agency — first for two years (2018-19) and then for another one-year deal (2020).

The 2018 season was a big one for Moreland not only due to his All-Star selection but also from a big-picture standpoint; while Moreland’s Rangers fell shy in consecutive World Series appearances in 2010-11, he reached the Fall Classic for a third time with the ’18 Red Sox and this time captured the championship that had twice eluded him in the past. As with the 2010 Rangers, Moreland played a big role in the Red Sox’ postseason success that year, slashing .294/.368/.529 in 19 plate appearances. That included a pinch-hit, three-run bomb at Dodger Stadium in the seventh inning of Game 4 of the World Series — a blast that jumpstarted a late-inning rally which saw Boston score nine runs en route to a comeback victory (video).

The Red Sox wound up trading Moreland to the Padres for a pair of prospects (Hudson Potts, Jeisson Rosario) during the shortened 2020 season. He scuffled through a small sample of 73 plate appearances before again heating up in the postseason, where he went 4-for-8 with a double. Moreland inked a one-year deal with Oakland that offseason but was limited to 82 games by ribcage and wrist injuries.

That proved to be the final season of Moreland’s playing career, and while it may not have ended with a flourish, it’s easy to look back and see a successful career —  particularly for a 17th-round pick. Moreland retires as a lifetime .251/.318/.446 hitter in the regular season. He slugged 186 home runs, 219 doubles and nine triples along the way, while piling up 1,020 hits, 527 runs scored and 618 runs batted in. As previously mentioned, he won a Gold Glove and was named to the American League All-Star team. Between his solid arbitration numbers and a quartet of free-agent contracts, Moreland made about $36MM in salary over the course of his 12 seasons in the Majors.

And, while many players go the majority of their career without sniffing the postseason, Moreland’s teams reached the playoffs in an incredible eight of his 12 big league seasons. He added on another 150 plate appearances over the life of 52 postseason games, batting .259/.329/.422 during that time. Congratulations to Moreland on a fine career, and best wishes in whatever lies ahead in his post-playing days.

Lorenzo Cain To Officially Retire As A Royal This Summer

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Outfielder Lorenzo Cain was released by the Brewers in June of last year and didn’t sign with another team. He tells Andy McCullough of The Athletic that he got some interest from other clubs but ultimately decided to call it a career. He will return to Kauffman Stadium at some point during the upcoming season to officially retire as a Royal, though the timing and logistics of that are still being worked out.

Cain was certainly struggling last year, as he had a batting line of .179/.231/.234 at the time he was cut loose by the Brewers. But his defensive grades were still good and he had been roughly average at the plate the year before. It seems a few teams thought he still had something left in the tank. Cain says the Dodgers were in touch, as were players on the Phillies and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals. However, Cain decided to defer to his three young boys.

“I left it in the hands of my boys,” Cain said to McCullough. “I said, ‘Hey, do you guys want Daddy to continue to play ball? Or are you ready for Daddy to be done and go home?’ And they said, ‘Dad, we want you to go home.’ And I said, ‘OK, then.’ So I’ve been done. I just haven’t announced it, I guess.” As mentioned, the details of the upcoming ceremony are still being hashed out, but Cain says they are tentatively targeting the month of May. Once the paperwork is filed, it will officially bring to a close a career that was bookended by time with Milwaukee but had its greatest highlights in Kansas City.

The Brewers selected Cain in the 17th round of the 2004 draft. He worked his way up through the minors and cracked the big leagues in 2010, getting into 43 games that year. Prior to the 2011 campaign, the rebuilding Royals sent Zack Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt to the Brewers in exchange for Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress, Jake Odorizzi and Cain.

Lorenzo Cain | Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY SportsHis first year with his new club was primarily spent in the minors and then Cain was hurt for much of 2012. In 2013, he started to show signs of becoming a viable major leaguer, as he got into 115 games, stole 14 bases and provided excellent defense. He took another step forward in 2014, hitting .301 on the year and swiping 28 bags. He helped the club to the World Series that year, winning ALCS MVP along the way.

The Royals lost that World Series but were back the next year, thanks in no small part to Cain. He hit 16 home runs in 2015, effectively doubling his career tally at that time, as he had just 17 coming into the year. He also stole another 28 bases, continued to be great in the field and hit .307. He made the All-Star game that year, the first of two selections for him, and the Royals eventually emerged victorious in that year’s World Series.

Cain would play another couple of seasons in Kansas City before reaching free agency. He returned to the Brewers on a five-year, $80MM deal going into 2018. He continued to be an excellent player in the first few years of that contract, providing his typical blend of speed and defense, along with a few home runs. He was selected to the All-Star game again in 2018 and won a Gold Glove award in 2019.

Cain played five games in 2020 before deciding to opt out due to the pandemic. He was then hampered by injuries in 2021, getting into just 78 games. He struggled out of the gate in 2022 and was ultimately let go by the Brewers. As mentioned up top, Cain seemed to have some chances to continue his playing career but ultimately decided to be with his family instead.

Cain goes into the history books with 1,220 hits, including 225 doubles, 24 triples and 87 home runs. He scored 626 runs, drove 454 of them in and stole 190 bases. He was a two-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner and a World Series champion. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute him on a fine career and wish him all the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Stefan Crichton Retires

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Reliever Stefan Crichton informed the Diamondbacks last week that he’s decided to retire, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters this afternoon (link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). The right-hander had been in camp with the D-Backs as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.

Crichton, 31 this week, pitched in parts of four major league campaigns. Drafted by the Orioles in the 23rd round in 2013 out of TCU, he reached the majors with Baltimore four years later. Crichton pitched in eight games for the O’s in 2017. Designated for assignment just before Opening Day the following year, he was dealt to the D-Backs. He lost most of the 2018 campaign to shoulder issues but reached the majors with Arizona again the next season.

In each season between 2019-21, Crichton would make between 26 and 31 MLB appearances for the Snakes. He posted a 3.56 ERA with a 26.8% strikeout rate in the first year and managed a 2.42 ERA (albeit with a diminished 21.1% strikeout percentage) during the 2020 abbreviated schedule. Crichton was tagged for over seven earned runs per nine innings in 2021, however, and he lost his spot on the 40-man roster that June. He returned briefly later in the season as a COVID-19 substitute but didn’t reclaim a permanent spot on the roster.

The 2022 campaign will go down as Crichton’s final as a professional player. He was limited to four minor league appearances late in the year after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. While he could’ve vied for a bullpen depth role this spring, the Houston native has elected to move on to his post-playing endeavors. “He came in and just explained to me that it was time for him to turn the page and take the next part of his journey away from baseball. It was something he had felt in his heart for a long time,” Lovullo told reporters of Crichton’s decision.

Crichton steps away after 93 big league outings. He pitched to a 4.79 ERA through 92 innings, striking out 81 hitters against 33 walks. Crichton held 11 leads and tallied nine saves. MLBTR wishes him the best in his future endeavors.

Jason Kipnis Announces Retirement

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Former Indian and Cub Jason Kipnis has formally announced his retirement in a post on Twitter. Kipnis’ last appearance in the majors came in a Cubs uniform back in the 2020 pandemic-shortened year.

Drafted by Cleveland in the second round of the 2009 draft, Kipnis rose through the ranks as a highly regarded prospect, earning recognition on top-100 prospect lists prior to the 2011 season. That was the year Kipnis would make his big league debut as well, as he slashed .272/.333/.507 with seven home runs in an impressive 36 game rookie stint.

That was enough for Kipnis to earn the starting second base job in Cleveland the following year, a spot he wouldn’t relinquish for a number of seasons. After hitting .284/.366/.452 with 17 home runs in 2013, earning a trip to the All Star game and finishing 11th in AL MVP voting, Kipnis was rewarded with a six-year, $52.5MM extension in April of 2014. A disappointing season would follow but Kipnis would bounce back in style, hitting .303/.372/.451 and making his second trip to the All Star game. He’d also break the Cleveland record for individual hits in May, picking up 51 in a month which saw him hit .429/.511/.706.

Another strong showing would follow in 2016, as Kipnis would help Cleveland go as far as the World Series, where they’d fall in seven games to the Cubs. That’d be the last above-average offensive campaign for Kipnis, as his wRC+ would sit at just 86 between 2017-19, a period in which Kipnis would slash .236/.305/.403. That’d culminate in Cleveland declining his club option for 2019, allowing Kipnis to test free agency for the first time in his career.

Free agency wasn’t fruitful for Kipnis, and in February of 2020 he landed with the Cubs on a minor league deal. He’d go on to crack their roster and hit .237/.341/.404 over a 44-game stretch during that 60-game season. While Kipnis landed a minor league deal with Atlanta in 2021, he wouldn’t crack their roster and was released at the end of the season.

Kipnis spent the bulk of his ten big league seasons manning second base, but transitioned to become an outfield option for Cleveland towards the backend of his time there, logging innings in center field in both 2017 and 2018.

All told, Kipnis finishes his career with a batting line .260/.333/.416 with 126 home runs, 1,147 hits and 136 stolen bases. That 1,000 hit came in true style, as Kipnis launched a walk-off grand slam against the White Sox in September, 2018. MLBTR congratulates Kipnis on a fine playing career, and wishes him all the best in whatever comes next.

Dodgers Hire Tyson Ross For Special Assistant Role

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The Dodgers have hired Tyson Ross for a special assistant position, The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reports (Twitter link).  Ross will be involved in the team’s player development and player performance departments.  The hiring seemingly indicates that Ross has ended his playing career after 10 Major League seasons.

A second-round pick for the Athletics in 2008, Ross began his career with three seasons for his hometown team before he was traded to the Padres during the 2012-13 offseason.  The right-hander reached another level with his new club, posting strong numbers as a member of San Diego’s rotation and receiving an All-Star nod in 2014.

Unfortunately for Ross, injuries limited his effectiveness after this promising run.  He pitched in only a single game in 2016 due to shoulder problems and eventually a surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.  After two injury-marred seasons, it seemed like Ross was regaining some of his old effectiveness during a solid 2018 year with the Padres and Cardinals, but after signing with the Tigers in December 2018, his time in Detroit was limited to only seven starts due to elbow problems.

Ross’ five innings of work in the Tigers’ 6-0 loss to the Twins on May 10, 2019 ended up being his final Major League appearance.  He signed a minor league deal with the Giants prior to the 2020 season but he chose to opt out of the pandemic-shortened season, and another minors deal with the Rangers in the 2020-21 offseason didn’t lead to any game time even in the minors before he was released that May.

Ross turns 36 in April, and he is hanging up his cleats after 203 MLB games (142 of them starts) and 904 2/3 innings.  During his time with the A’s, Padres, Rangers, Cardinals, and Tigers, Ross had a 4.04 ERA, relying on a grounder-heavy arsenal rather than blow-away strikeout numbers.  Ross had a 53.5% grounder rate to go along with a 21.2% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate.

As he embarks on this new role with the Dodgers, Ross now finds himself opposite his younger brother Joe on both sides of the heated Los Angeles/San Francisco rivalry.  Joe (who is recovering from Tommy John surgery) signed a minors deal with the Giants last month.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Tyson on a fine career, and we wish him the best as he moves into his post-playing endeavors in the game.

Rene Rivera Announces Retirement

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Longtime big league catcher René Rivera took to Instagram to announce his retirement Friday morning. “In June 2001, I had the opportunity to make one of my dreams come true, to get signed as a professional baseball player,” Rivera wrote. “21 years later, I thank God for the career he has allowed me to have. Today I want to announce that I am retiring as a professional baseball player.”

The 39-year-old goes on to thank every organization for which he played. He also expressed gratitude to his family, coaches, representatives and fans before concluding he’s “ready for the next step of (his) career.”

Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, was selected by the Mariners in the second round of the ’01 draft. He was in the majors a little more than three years later, debuting as a September call-up in 2004 not long after his 21st birthday. Rivera spent a few seasons as a depth catcher for Seattle, combining to appear in 53 MLB games over his first three years.

After the 2006 campaign, Rivera kicked off a nomadic path that’d define his entire career. He was out of the majors entirely between 2007-10, bouncing between various organizations’ upper minors affiliates and spending some time in independent ball. Rivera returned to the bigs with the Twins in 2011 for a 45-game stint and played the following year in Triple-A.

A brief showing with the Padres in 2013 set the stage for Rivera to improbably break through as San Diego’s primary catcher at age 30 the next year. He connected on 11 home runs over a career-high 329 plate appearances during the ’14 season, hitting .252/.319/.432. The following offseason, San Diego sent him to the Rays in the three-team blockbuster that moved Wil Myers to Southern California, Steven Souza to Tampa Bay and then-prospect Trea Turner to Washington.

Rivera played in a personal-high 110 games with Tampa Bay but couldn’t recapture his prior year’s success at the plate. He hit .178/.213/.275 over 319 trips to the dish with the Rays and was released before the following season. He quickly signed with the Mets and would see a decent amount of action in Queens over the latter portion of his career. Rivera played in 65 games for the Mets in 2016 before logging 74 contests between New York and the Cubs the next year. He split the 2018 campaign with the Angels and Braves, then returned to the Mets as a depth catcher from 2019-20. Rivera’s final major league action came in 2021, when he got into 25 games between the Indians and Nationals.

While Rivera was rarely much of an offensive contributor, his strong defensive reputation earned him repeated opportunities. He ultimately logged parts of 13 MLB campaigns over a professional career that spanned two decades, suiting up at the MLB level for ten different teams. Rivera played in 542 big league contests, hitting .221/.273/.354 with 43 home runs across 1629 plate appearances. He spent nearly 4000 innings behind the plate, posting consistently strong marks from pitch framing metrics and cutting down a fantastic 36.5% of attempted basestealers.

MLBTR congratulates Rivera on his lengthy run in the professional ranks and wishes him the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Eric Thames Announces Retirement

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Veteran first baseman and outfielder Eric Thames took to Instagram yesterday to announce his retirement. “The day has finally come,” he says in the post. “In the year of our lord, twenty, twenty-three…HE GONE! I’ve been so blessed over these last 14 years to call baseball my job. The friendships that will last a lifetime, the memories that I’ll never shut up about (and those that I’m sworn to secrecy to take to my grave ).”

This announcement officially ends one of the more unique baseball careers, as Thames has spent the past few decades crisscrossing the globe. His professional baseball life began when the Blue Jays drafted him in 2008 out of Pepperdine University. He made his major league debut with the Jays in 2011 and performed well, hitting 12 home runs in 95 games. His batting line on the year was .262/.313/.456 for a wRC+ of 107, indicating he was 7% better than the league average hitter.

Things didn’t go as well the following year, as Thames hit .243/.288/.365 for the Jays and was optioned to the minors for a time. He was then traded to the Mariners in July for Steve Delabar, getting into 40 games with Seattle after that deal. In 2013, the Mariners kept Thames in the minors and eventually designated him for assignment. He was traded to the Orioles and then went to the Astros on a waiver claim, though neither team called him up to the big leagues.

Thames signed with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization for 2014, which transformed his career. After years of being on roster bubbles in North America, he emerged as a star in Korea. He hit 37 home runs for the Dinos that year and followed that up by hitting 47 and 40 in the next two seasons. His 2015 season stands out as being exceptionally impressive, as he also stole 40 bases and walked in 17.3% of his trips to the plate. His .381/.497/.790 batting line amounted to a 216 wRC+. He was crowned as the Most Valuable Player in the league that year.

After that strong three-year stretch with the Dinos, Thames returned to Major League Baseball, signing a three-year, $16MM deal with the Brewers. He was able to transfer a decent amount of his success from Korea to North America, as he hit 31 homers in 2017 while walking in 13.6% of his trips to the plate. His .247/.359/.518 batting line led to a 125 wRC+. Thumb surgery kept him out of action for a while in the following year, but he was still able to add another 16 home runs in 96 games, then hit another 25 in 2019. His three-year stretch in Milwaukee resulted in 72 long balls and a .241/.343/.504 batting line for a 118 wRC+. That last year saw the Brewers qualify for the Wild Card game against the Nationals. Thames went 2-4 in that game, including hitting a solo home run off Max Scherzer. But the Brewers ultimately lost 4-3 to the Nats, who would go on to win the World Series later that year, and that now goes down as the only MLB playoff game in which Thames played.

Despite that solid stretch, the Brewers surprisingly turned down a $7.5MM option on Thames for 2020 and went for the $1MM buyout instead. The Nationals scooped him up on a $4MM guarantee but he struggled in the pandemic-shortened season, hitting .203/.300/.317 with just three homers in 41 games. He signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for 2021 but suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon after just one game with the club. He tried another return to the majors in 2022 by signing a minor league deal with the A’s, but struck out in 38% of his plate appearances in Triple-A and got released after 22 games.

In the end, it makes for quite a journey, with Thames having played for baseball teams all over the world. His major league career resulted in 96 home runs, 18 stolen bases, 451 hits, 286 runs scored and 235 driven in. But he’ll perhaps be best remembered by some fans for that magical three-year run in the KBO wherein he hit 124 home runs, stole 64 bases, scored 343 runs and drove in 382.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Thames on a fascinating and distinctive career, and wish him the best in his future endeavors.

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