Ryan O’Rourke Announces Retirement
Former MLB southpaw Ryan O’Rourke announced last night on Twitter that he’s hanging up his spikes. MLBTR wishes him the best in his future endeavors.
O’Rourke made two appearances last year with the Mets before he was cut loose. He caught on with the Twins on a mid-season minors deal but never got the call to the MLB roster.
Most of O’Rourke’s experience at the highest level of the game came in his 2015-16 stint with the Twins. Over 47 frames in 54 appearances, he worked to a 4.98 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 4.8 BB/9.
O’Rourke, a Massachusetts native and former 13th round pick, did find quite a bit of success at the Triple-A level. Through an even one hundred appearances over five campaigns, he posted a cumulative 3.29 ERA.
Denard Span Discusses His Decision To Walk Away
Denard Span has played 11 seasons at the big league level, totaling 1359 games and 5956 plate appearances, but the former Twins, Nationals, Giants, Rays and Mariners outfielder confirmed to MLBTR this week that he’s suited up for the final time.
“I would say, in my heart, once I didn’t sign a contract going into the 2020 season, that was it for me,” said Span. Retirement, however, is a bittersweet step for the 36-year-old, who’d have preferred to walk away from the game on his own terms. Instead, changes to the free-agent landscape and the manner in which teams evaluate players left Span feeling conflicted as he sought a new team in the 2018-19 offseason.
“I’m a man of principles, and when those principles aren’t met, I can’t go along with it,” Span explained. “…I honestly recognize that I’m not the player that I was when I was in D.C. or when I was in Minnesota. But, I still know that I have value. I’m not a center fielder or premier player anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help a ballclub win a championship or win games. I’m not the $12MM player anymore, but from what I did [in 2018], that doesn’t tell me I’m worth $1MM or worth $1.5MM or worth league minimum. I got an offer for league minimum. It was just unreal.”
Span indeed put together a solid campaign in 2018, tallying 501 plate appearances between the Rays and Mariners with a combined .261/.341/.419 batting line. He connected on 11 home runs, 22 doubles and seven triples while swiping nine bases in 13 tries. Both OPS+ and wRC+ agreed that his bat was 12 percent better than that of a league-average hitter. Through 137 games, Baseball-Reference pegged him at 2.1 wins above replacement — FanGraphs at 1.5.
“For me, how do you go from 500 at-bats, being a productive player — you look over the course of my career, I’ve never been a problem in the clubhouse, either — how do you equate that to $1.5MM or all the way down to league minimum?” Span asked rhetorically.
The timing of the offers was difficult on Span and his young family as well, ranging from late January through the first week of the regular season. Any offers received were of the “take it or leave it” variety, Span added, as opposed to a few years ago when there was more negotiation. Once Spring Training was underway, he finally received offers from multiple clubs at once — on minor league deals.
“It just was like, ‘How did I get to this point where now I have to prove that I can play when I just had 500 at-bats last year?'” Span continued.
Span’s comments strike a similar tone to those recently expressed by former Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett. The 30-year-old Gennett, who didn’t sign a contract this winter, spoke to Doug Fernandes of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune last month about “not conforming” to what he “[doesn’t] think is right.” Gennett set a value on his skills and on the trade-off of being “220 days away from family,” ultimately opting not to compromise. Span viewed the decision similarly.
“I just couldn’t see myself at this point in my career giving in or compromising myself — especially where I’m at in my life, being a husband and a father,” said Span, who is married and has two children under three years old. “It’s already hard enough to be away from my family, and now they want me to play for less than what I humbly feel I deserve. I’m not saying I’m worth $10MM. I’m saying I’m worth more than what they offered me.”
Span and Gennett are hardly the only big leaguers frustrated by the changes to the free-agent landscape in recent years. We’re not far removed from a 2017-18 offseason that proved to be one of the most frigid in recent memory for free agents. The lack of activity on the middle and lower tiers of the free-agent market that winter helped to set the stage for much of the league/union tension that has negatively impacted the currently ongoing return-to-play talks and will certainly impact the next wave of collective bargaining in 2021.
While it’s true that the game’s top stars — particularly those still shy of 30 — have generally been able to secure considerable free-agent contracts, the 2017-18 and 2018-19 offseasons also featured an erosion of the “middle class” of free agents. (There’s a reason Adam Jones is preparing to play in Japan, after all.) Span himself noted that not long ago, veterans at the same point in their careers as he was following the 2018 season could even reasonably expect to find two-year deals. Rajai Davis, David DeJesus and Chris Young are among the numerous outfielders who signed two-year deals in the $10MM range from 2013-16.
In today’s game, comparable veterans like Kevin Pillar, Brock Holt and Asdrubal Cabrera have begun to settle for one-year pacts, and those who do find multi-year guarantees typically take a smaller salary. Wilmer Flores (two years, $6.25MM this offseason), Austin Jackson (two years, $6MM in 2018) and Howie Kendrick (two years, $7MM in 2018) are a few examples. With teams now suddenly experiencing unprecedented revenue losses, and with a likely aggressive wave of non-tenders on the horizon, it seems unlikely that the trend will change anytime soon. It’s eminently possible that other veterans will feel obligated to follow the same path as Span.
All told, Span will officially walk away from baseball with a lifetime .281/.347/.398 batting line, 71 home runs, 265 doubles, 72 triples, 185 stolen bases, 773 runs scored, 490 runs batted in and 28 wins above replacement. The 2002 first-round pick walked in 8.6 percent of his plate appearances, struck out at just a 12 percent clip and was a positive contributor on the bases and with the glove for the vast majority of his time in the big leagues. Between his draft bonus, his first extension with the Twins and his three-year deal with the Giants, Span earned more than $58MM as a player. His 2018 production suggests that he could likely have added to those totals, but Span will instead turn his full focus to his family, taking solace in the fact that he stuck to his convictions:
“At the end of the day, I want people to get that I didn’t play because of principles. Point blank.”
Denard Span On His Future
It’s been nearly 20 months since Denard Span suited up in a big league game, and the former Twins, Nationals, Giants, Rays and Mariners outfielder suggests in an interview with Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he may not do so again. Span reveals that he received offers in the 2018-19 offseason, although they clearly weren’t compelling enough to leave his young family. Span adds that he worked out this winter with an eye toward a 2020 return and received “two or three” minor league offers — but they came from clubs without much of a path to the Majors even in the event that he played well in Triple-A.
“I haven’t announced it, officially, but maybe this is it,” Span said when asked about retirement. “…I still would have the ability to help a team. But 36-year-old outfielders who haven’t played in two years … not happening. I’m very satisfied pouring my life into our family, to Anne, a wonderful person, and our two boys.”
If this is indeed it for the amiable Span, it’s been quite a strong career. A first-round pick out of high school by the Twins back in 2002, Span took nearly six years to ascend to the big leagues, but he made an immediate impact upon arrival. Twenty-four years old at the time, Span finished sixth in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2008 and hit .294/.387/.432 (122 OPS+ and wRC+ alike) through 487 plate appearances, helping push the Twins to a dramatic Game 163 showdown with the White Sox. Minnesota fell in a crushing 1-0 loss to the South Siders, but Span had announced his presence in the big leagues and would never look back.
Over the next four seasons, Span was the consummate leadoff man in Minnesota, hitting a combined .283/.351/.381 with a nine percent walk rate and just an 11.5 percent strikeout rate. In addition to a knack for working counts and putting the ball in play, Span showed off well above-average baserunning skills and the ability to play plus defense wherever he was slotted into the outfield (center field, more often than not). Heading into the 2010 campaign, Span signed a five-year, $16.5MM contract extension that contained an option for an additional $9MM.
Span provided excellent value over the course of that contract, but he only spent half of it in a Twins uniform. As the Twins fell from their status as a perennial AL Central contender and moved into a rebuild, Span had two guaranteed years and the club option remaining on that highly appealing deal. Minnesota flipped him to the Nationals in a straight-up swap for then-vaunted pitching prospect Alex Meyer — a deal that proved regrettable for Minnesota after repeated shoulder injuries torpedoed Meyer’s career.
The Nats had no complaints, though, and that may have been the case even if Meyer had eventually developed into a quality big leaguer. Span hit .292/.345/.404 in three seasons with Washington, continuing to add value on the bases and in the field along the way. By the time he reached free agency, Span was solidified enough to command a three-year, $31MM contract from the Giants. Even as his glovework deteriorated — San Francisco didn’t help matters by continuing to play him in center for lack of a better option — Span remained solid at the plate. However, he played out the final year of that deal between his hometown Rays and the Mariners after the Giants sent him to Tampa Bay in the Evan Longoria trade.
All told, Span has logged 11 seasons in the Major Leagues and batted a combined .281/.347/.398 with 71 home runs, 265 doubles, 72 triples, 185 stolen bases (in 244 tries — 76 percent), 773 runs scored and 490 RBIs. He was never an All-Star despite a strong career that checked in at 28 wins above replacement per both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference — a likely result of the understated manner in which he brought value to his teams (on-base percentage, baserunning, defense).
Clubs clearly saw the value in Span, though, as he was a regular from the moment he debuted up through the end of the 2018 season, and he inked a pair of multi-year deals that helped propel his career earnings north of $58MM (including his draft bonus). Best wishes to Span moving forward, whatever the future holds.
Rob Wooten Announces Retirement
Right-hander Rob Wooten announced his retirement (Twitter links) today, ending a career that spanned 12 professional seasons. Wooten will remain involved in the game, as the 34-year-old will “transition into a new role” with the Reds after pitching in Cincinnati’s system for the past three years.
Originally a 13th-round pick for the Brewers in the 2008 draft, all 71 of Wooten’s career Major League games came in a Milwaukee uniform, as he posted a 5.03 ERA, 2.41 K/BB rate, and 7.0 K/9 over 68 innings (all out of the bullpen) from 2013-15. Wooten lacked the big fastball usually possessed by most relievers, instead relying on a cutter-heavy arsenal that limited hard contact. As evidenced by ERA predictors like FIP (3.22), xFIP (3.90), and SIERA (3.62) over his career, Wooten’s 5.03 ERA was perhaps not indicative of his actual performance, though his overall numbers were inflated by allowing eight runs in his six MLB innings during the 2015 season.
After spending 2016 with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, Wooten began his Cincinnati tenure, though he was greatly limited by injuries over his three seasons in the Reds’ organization. Over his entire career, Wooten posted a 3.88 ERA, 4.00 K/BB rate, and 9.00 K/9 over 501 2/3 minor league frames.
We at MLB Trade Rumors wish Wooten all the best in the next phase of his baseball career.
Steve Pearce Announces Retirement
Veteran infielder Steve Pearce is officially hanging up his spikes, he tells WEEI’s Mike Mutnansky (writeup via Rob Bradford). He was not currently under contract with any MLB organization.
Pearce, who turned 37 yesterday, had already indicated he was unlikely to resume his playing career. Though he kept the door open late last year, he has now put to rest any possibility of a surprise return.
Last year turned out to be an injury-ruined disappointment — hardly the only time that Pearce’s body has betrayed him over the years. He managed to appear in 13 campaigns and achieve a full decade of MLB service in spite of his many health woes, but was limited to 2,555 plate appearances over that span.
Now that he has formally wrapped up his playing career, we can put a final wrap on it. Pearce owns a cumulative .254/.332/.440 batting line with 91 home runs. He appeared with seven organizations at the game’s highest level: the Pirates, Orioles, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rays, Yankees, and Astros.
Pearce will be remembered most for his surprising breakout years in Baltimore and his brief but notable late run in Boston. He entered his age-30 season with a completely unremarkable record in the majors. He ended up making virtually his entire contribution at the game’s highest level over the ensuing six-year stretch (2013-18), over which he recorded a .266/.347/.479 slash (123 OPS+).
After moving to the Red Sox at the 2018 deadline, Pearce delivered a monster effort down the stretch before a three-homer showing in the 2018 World Series that earned him the MVP award for the series. In his recent comments, Pearce rejected the notion that the 2018 Red Sox benefited from illicit sign-stealing efforts — a matter that still remains unresolved by league investigation, at least publicly.
Austin Maddox Retires
Red Sox right-hander Austin Maddox announced his retirement during the offseason, as reported by SoxProspects.com (Twitter link) in March. The 28-year-old Maddox is hanging up his glove after 13 Major League appearances (all with the Sox during the 2017 season) and seven total professional seasons.
A University of Florida product, Maddox was a third-round pick for the Red Sox in the 2012 draft and he pitched almost exclusively as a reliever during his time in Boston’s farm system — 136 of his 151 career minor league appearances came out of the bullpen. After some issues with the home run ball early in his career, Maddox began to post better results in 2015, and then made a three-level jump during the 2016 season. Another strong performance at the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2017 led to his call-up to the Red Sox roster.
Maddox’s brief MLB career will go into the books as an impressive one by the numbers, as he allowed just a single earned run over 17 1/3 regular season innings. Beyond that minuscule 0.52 ERA, Maddox also recorded 14 strikeouts against just two walks. This was enough to earn Maddox a spot on the Red Sox postseason roster, and he allowed a run in two innings pitched during Boston’s ALDS loss to the Astros.
What looked like a promising start ended up as the entirety of Maddox’s big league career. A shoulder strain limited him to only eight total outings in the minors in 2018, and he missed all of 2019 recovering from rotator cuff surgery. The Red Sox re-signed Maddox to a new minor league deal over the offseason, though he didn’t appear in any Spring Training games.
MLBTR wishes Maddox the best in the next step in his post-playing career.
Mark Reynolds Announces Retirement
Veteran slugger Mark Reynolds, who enjoyed a 13-year big league career split between the Diamondbacks, Rockies, Orioles, Indians, Cardinals, Nationals, Yankees and Brewers, announced in an appearance on Mad Dog Sports Radio on SiriusXM that he’s officially retired (Twitter link, with audio).
“I’ve moved beyond that,” Reynolds said when asked if he planned to seek another contract once MLB’s transaction freeze has been lifted. “I’ve retired. … I’m really enjoying time with my family, and it’s time for me to move on and find something else to do.”
The 36-year-old Reynolds spent the majority of the 2019 season in the Rockies organization, serving as a part-time first baseman and a bench bat until he was cut loose on July 28. He’d enjoyed a quality season with the Nationals a year prior in 2018, but Reynolds struggled to the lowest offensive numbers of his career with the Rox last year.
Originally a 16th-round pick of the Diamondbacks out of the University of Virginia back in 2004, Reynolds made his big league debut less than three years after being drafted. Reynolds was never considered one of the organization’s premier prospects — his No. 7 ranking on Baseball America’s list of D-backs prospects prior to the ’07 campaign was the only time he broke their top 30 — Reynolds hit the ground running. He was promoted to the big leagues in mid-May and closed out the remainder of the season as a regular in the lineup, hitting .279/.349/.495 with 17 home runs.
By 2008, Reynolds was Arizona’s everyday third baseman. His power was unquestionable, although the same could be said of his questionable contact skills. Reynolds became one of the game’s quintessential boom-or-bust players, regularly headlining home run and strikeout leaderboards alike. From 2008-11, he averaged 35 big flies per season but also led his league in strikeouts each year along the way. At that time, a player who was punching out in roughly a third of his plate appearances was an alarming anomaly; the league average strikeout rate back in Reynolds’ first full year was 17.5 percent — a full six percent lower than 2019’s mark.
Reynolds had a rough year in 2010, prompting the D-backs to trade him to the Orioles in return for reliever David Hernandez and prospect Kam Mickolio. He bounced back with the Birds and helped them to the postseason in 2012, but Baltimore declined an $11MM club option over Reynolds’ final arbitration year that offseason and non-tendered him, making him a free agent for the first time in his career.
Reynolds would bounce from Cleveland to New York to Milwaukee to St. Louis to Colorado to D.C. and back to Colorado on a series of one-year and minor league deals from that point forth. He delivered some productive seasons along the way and even popped 30 homers for the 2017 Rockies before giving the Nationals an absurd 5-for-5, two-homer, 10-RBI day in 2018 (video link).
Reynolds will conclude his playing career with a .236/.328/.453 batting line over the life of 6243 plate appearances and 1688 Major League games. In that time, he belted 298 home runs, 253 doubles, 14 triples and stole 64 bases while also scoring 794 times and knocking in 871 runs. The slugger took home nearly $30MM in career earnings while providing a litany of tape-measure home runs on which we can all fondly look back. Best wishes to Reynolds and his family in whatever lies ahead.
Evan Gattis Confirms He Is “Done Playing”
Burly backstop-turned-DH Evan Gattis confirmed that his playing career is now finished in an appearance on the 755 Is Real Podcast with The Athletic’s David O’Brien and Eric O’Flaherty (audio link; profanity warning). The 33-year-old says he’s “done playing” professionally.
This news was obviously expected. Gattis did not play in 2019 after wrapping up his tenure with the Astros. Last we heard, he was not seeking playing opportunities. His productivity waned in 2018, though surely Gattis would’ve caught on somewhere had he pursued a deal.
It’s sad to see Gattis depart the scene. His mythical emergence with the Braves as something of an everyman Paul Bunyan is one of the most interesting tales of contemporary baseball. After battling mental health issues and taking a prolonged detour, Gattis improbably returned to the game and carved out a six-year MLB career, slashing .248/.300/.476 with 139 career long balls.
While the main plot points of his personal story were already known, it’s quite another thing to hear Gattis humbly and thoughtfully narrate his epic tale. The above-linked podcast is highly recommended listening.
Tom Koehler Retires
Right-hander Tom Koehler, in camp with the Pirates as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, announced his retirement from baseball on Instagram this morning. The 33-year-old Koehler says he’s looking forward to “starting [his] next chapter in the game,” whenever and whatever that may hold. For now, it seems as though he’ll take some time with his family.
From 2013-16, Koehler was a solid and durable constant at the back of the Marlins’ rotation, averaging 30 starts per season while pitching to a 4.14 ERA with averages of 6.8 strikeouts, 3.7 walks and 1.0 home runs per nine innings pitched. He struggled early in the 2017 season and found himself traded to the Blue Jays, with whom he posted an intriguing 15-game relief stint (2.65 ERA, 18-to-6 K/BB ratio in 17 innings). That showing prompted the Dodgers to take a look at Koehler in the offseason with the hope that he could transform his career as a late-inning bullpen piece.
Instead, Koehler was beset by shoulder injuries in 2018. After spending more than half the season trying to rehab an anterior capsule strain and make his Dodgers debut, Koehler underwent surgery that ended his 2018 season. He never threw a pitch at the MLB level for the Dodgers. He signed with the Pirates both last offseason and earlier this winter but wasn’t able to get back onto the hill.
It’s a tough way to end a playing career, although as an 18th-round senior sign back in 2008, Koehler exceeded any and all expectations. The Stony Brook alum pitched in 161 Major League games, totaling 784 1/3 innings of 4.39 ERA ball along the way. Koehler’s 36-55 record is more an indictment on the sub-par Marlins rosters surrounding him for much of his career than on his own abilities on the mound. He was generally a serviceable option, twice leading the club in games started and once leading them in innings pitched. Koehler was never a household name but pitched into his arbitration years, helping him to secure more than $12MM in total salary. Best wishes to Koehler in whatever path he next pursues.
Lonnie Chisenhall Retires
Lonnie Chisenhall is retiring after eight MLB seasons. As reported by J.J. Smith of the Carteret County News-Times, the former Indians third baseman/outfielder discussed his decision while attending a jersey dedication ceremony in his honor at his former middle school in Newport, North Carolina.
“I’ve only played 29 games in the past two years. So between that, and I have three kids at home, they are all in school, traveling around the country wasn’t practical anymore. It was a pretty easy decision,” Chisenhall said during a question-and-answer portion of the assembly with Newport Middle School students.
The 31-year-old hangs up his cleats after 688 Major League games, all with Cleveland from 2011-18. Chisenhall was a highly-touted young player, drafted 29th overall by the Indians in 2008 and given high placements (31st in 2010, 25th in 2011) on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect lists. Unfortunately, injuries were a constant presence in Chisenhall’s career and perhaps prevented him from fully living up to that top-prospect status, though he still managed to be a productive player over his eight seasons.
Chisenhall hit .268/.320/.427 with 64 home runs over 2360 career plate appearances, good for a 102 OPS+ and wRC+. Most of that success came against right-handed pitching for the lefty-swinging Chisenhall, though he produced good numbers against both lefties and righties over his final two seasons, which saw him post an .872 OPS over 365 PA while battling numerous injuries.
The most notable of those injuries was a series of nagging calf problems that, ultimately, brought an end to Chisenhall’s career. As he noted while talking to Newport’s students, he was limited to only 29 MLB games in 2018 and then didn’t appear at all in the big leagues last season, playing just seven games with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate after signing a one-year, $2.75MM deal with Pittsburgh last offseason.
MLB Trade Rumors wishes Chisenhall congratulations on a fine career, and wishes him well in his post-playing endeavors.