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Byung-Hyun Kim Announces Retirement

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South Korean submariner Byung-Hyun Kim announced his retirement from professional baseball in an interview with Lee Jae-kook of SPOTV Sports Time, covered here by Naver Sports. Kim played in Australia last season at the age of 39 after stints in the MLB, Korea and Japan.

Kim is unfortunately best known for blowing saves in back-to-back games against the Yankees during the 2001 World Series. He surrendered crushing home runs to Derek Jeter and Scott Brosius in games four and five, marring an otherwise breakout season for the electric 22-year-old. Kim’s quick delivery, submarine arm slot and sweeping breaking ball made him an engaging character on the Diamondbacks’ lone championship team, for whom he was tremendous up until the World Series. Two games after Kim’s second blown save, Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera would do him a solid and prove that a blown save can happen to anyone, as the Diamondbacks game back in the bottom of the ninth against Rivera to win their first and only World Series. That season Kim saved 19 games with a 2.94 ERA over 98 innings while recording 10.4 K/9.

Kim bounced back from the rough showing in the World Series with a career year in 2002, earning 36 saves with 2.04 ERA in 84 innings. The Diamondbacks version of Kim would have fit nicely in today’s game as a high-usage multi-inning reliever, though it was a short run of success. He was traded to the Red Sox in May of 2003, where his career eventually unraveled, though he did turn in a strong 79 1/3 innings of 3.18 ERA baseball for Boston that season, including five starts. Kim also played for the Rockies and Marlins, last appearing in the major leagues for Florida in 2007.

Kim returned to Arizona for the 20th Anniversary and took part in the festivities. His strongest major league seasons were without a doubt his early years in Arizona, where he recorded 70 of his 86 career saves. For his career, Kim finished with a 54-6o record with a 4.42 ERA in 394 appearances, 87 of which were starts. Kim is fourth on the Diamondbacks all-time saves list.

Bruce Bochy To Retire After 2019 Season

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Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced today that he will retire at the end of the 2019 season (Twitter link). Baseball’s longest-tenured skipper, Bochy is entering his 13th season as the Giants’ manager. In that time, he’s overseen three World Series championships (2010, 2012 and 2014) and helped guide the Giants to a 979-965 record.

A surefire Hall of Famer, the 2019 season will be Bochy’s 25th as a Major League manager, as he also previously enjoyed a 12-year run at the helm for the Padres. The 63-year-old surprisingly only took home one NL Manager of the Year title in those 24 seasons (1996 with the Padres), but his track record is among the most impressive of any manager in the past three decades. As MLB.com’s Jon Morosi points out, Bochy is one of only 10 managers to win three World Series titles, and the other nine are in the Hall of Fame (Twitter link).

As for his future, Bochy indicated that he’ll still be involved in the game in some capacity (Twitter link via NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic). He’s already spoken with CEO Larry Baer about alternative roles with the Giants organization and didn’t sound as if he had much interest in pursuing a role with another club, plainly stating: “I’m a Giant.”

With general manager Bobby Evans recently dismissed from his post and Brian Sabean moving into more of an advisory capacity with the team, the departure of Bochy will be the next major step in an organizational overhaul. Ownership tabbed former Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi as the organization’s new president of baseball operations early in the offseason, and after the 2019 season, Bochy’s retirement will give the Giants’ new front office an opportunity to handpick a replacement to serve as a new voice for the next generation of Giants.

Doug Fister Retires

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Veteran right-hander Doug Fister has elected to call it a career after spending parts of 10 seasons in the Majors, agent Page Odle tells Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Fister, 35, received multiple Major League contract offers this winter, according to Odle, but is instead making a “100 percent family-driven” decision to spend time with his wife and two children.

A seventh-round pick of the Mariners back in 2006, Fister ascended to the Majors as a largely unheralded prospect with the Mariners in 2009. After establishing himself as a quality starter over his first 378 frames with the Mariners, Fister was flipped to the Tigers in a 2011 trade deadline deal, where he’d go on to thrive over another three seasons. Fister, in fact, was somewhat quietly one of the game’s better starters from 2011-14, pitching to a 3.11 ERA (129 ERA+) with 6.5 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and 0.7 HR/9.

A 2015 forearm strain led to diminished velocity and diminished results for Fister, though he managed to make 32 starts for the 2016 Astros and served as a stabilizing force in their rotation. Hip and knee injuries slowed Fister in his most recent run with the Rangers, with the latter of the two issues ultimately ending his season after 66 innings.

All in all, Fister will walk away from his baseball career with a lifetime 83-92 record, a 3.72 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 1422 1/3 big league innings. The towering 6’8″ righty also amassed an impressive postseason resume, tallying 56 2/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball with a 41-to-17 K/BB ratio in five separate postseasons runs (three with the Tigers, one with the Nats and one with the Red Sox). He made one World Series start, with the Tigers in ’12, where he tossed six innings of one-run ball against the Giants.

Fister earned more than $36MM in player salaries over the life of a career that both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs value at 20 wins above replacement. Best wishes to the former Tigers, Mariners, Nationals, Astros, Red Sox and Rangers righty in his life beyond baseball.

A.J. Ellis Reportedly Set To Join Padres In Baseball Ops Role

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The Padres have agreed to hire A.J. Ellis as a special assistant to GM A.J. Preller’s baseball operations department, according to MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell (via Twitter).

Ellis’s precise role remains to be seen, but it obviously will not be as a uniformed player. He’ll wrap up his playing career after spending parts of eleven seasons in the majors.

It’s at least a bit of a surprise to see Ellis hang up his spikes now. After all, he turned in 183 plate appearances of .272/.378/.344 hitting last year for the San Diego organization. As ever, he compensated for a lack of power with outstanding plate discipline and contact ability.

In his 2,303 total plate appearances in the big leagues, Ellis managed only 44 long balls and a .113 isolated power mark, but walked at a hefty 12.2% rate. He managed to be nearly a league-average overall offensive producer by carrying a 5.5% swinging-strike rate and offering at pitches out of the zone at less than a twenty percent clip. (Check the 2018 leaderboards in SwStr and O-Swing% and you’ll see how notable those figures are.)

Ellis finished out his career with the Phillies, Marlins, and Friars, but he will be remembered best for his longstanding tenure with the Dodgers — and, in particular, his relationship with the great Clayton Kershaw. The two shared the field for 829 total innings, even though most of Ellis’s nine seasons in Los Angeles came in a reserve role. When the end came for Ellis in L.A. in the middle of the 2016 season, the two friends were moved to tears. Ellis also had a rather notable run of postseason success for the Dodgers, turning in a .365/.450/.615 slash in 61 total plate appearances, though he never had a chance to play in a World Series.

Steve Delabar To Retire

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Former MLB righty Steve Delabar announced that he’s no longer pursuing playing opportunities in an appearance on the Outta the Park show with Barry Davis (audio link). Though he hasn’t filed formal paperwork, Delabar says he’s “ready to move on” and is now coaching at the high school level in his hometown.

Delabar, 35, is now two full seasons removed from his MLB playing career. He had briefly appeared at the Triple-A level last year with the Rangers organization, but was not able to get back into form to challenge for a return to the majors.

It ended up being quite a journey for Delabar, which he discusses at length in the podcast. After washing out of the Padres organization, he had to fight his way back into the affiliated ranks. Delabar re-launched with the Mariners in 2011, sparking a six-year MLB career. It’s an inspiring tale, albeit one that was marred by a 2017 PED suspension. (He gave his side of the story at the time.)

Delabar will ultimately be remembered most as a big league hurler for his time with the Blue Jays. He thrived for a brief stretch in Toronto, securing an All-Star appearance in 2013. All said, Delabar hangs up his spikes with 194 2/3 innings of 4.07 ERA pitching, with 11.2 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9.

Jimmy Rollins Joins Phillies As Special Advisor

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The Phillies announced today that former infielder Jimmy Rollins has joined the organization as a special advisor. He’ll return to the team that drafted him back in 1996 and with which he spent 15 of his 17 seasons in the majors.

Rollins, 40, has not formally announced an end to his playing career, though it had long seemed clear that he had hung up his spikes. He last played in 2016 and was already slated to participate in a retirement ceremony with the Philadelphia organization during the upcoming season.

Whether Rollins will ultimately launch a full-blown post-playing career in the game isn’t yet clear. For now, he’ll get started with a fairly typical slate of potential activities for a respected former star. Per the club, he will engaged in “spring training coaching, meeting with sponsors and suite holders, fan engagement and community outreach,” among other possible functions.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia Retires

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Veteran catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia has announced that he is calling it a career. The 33-year-old spent parts of a dozen seasons at the MLB level.

In a statement to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Facebook link), Saltalamacchia expressed gratitude to his former organizations, teammates and fans, along with his family and agent Jim Munsey. He also spoke of the honor he felt following in the footsteps of his childhood idol, Jason Varitek, over a four-year run with the Red Sox.

Ultimately, Saltalamacchia will be remembered best for his time in Boston, over which he turned in 1,329 plate appearances of .243/.307/.455 hitting with 55 home runs. He was a big part of the team’s 2013 World Series championship outfit, turning in a career year at the plate (.273/.338/.466) while appearing in 121 games for the second-straight season.

That platform campaign set the stage for a successful trip onto the open market, as he landed a three-year, $21MM deal with the Marlins. Unfortunately, things didn’t really work out in Miami. Indeed, many of the drawbacks we noted in the post on that signing — high strikeout rate, difficulties against left-handed pitching, and questionable glovework behind the dish — led to an unexpectedly brief tenure with the Fish.

Saltalamacchia ultimately made it through just nine games in the second season of that deal before he was cut loose. He rebounded later in 2015 with the Diamondbacks, and earned a significant role with the Tigers in the ensuing campaign, but never really regained his footing in the big leagues. Saltalamacchia had brief showings over the past two seasons with the Blue Jays and Tigers.

Of course, all that occurred following Salty’s most memorable moment from a hot stove perspective. After being taken 36th overall by the Braves, and debuting in the big leagues on his 22nd birthday in 2007, Saltalamacchia was shipped to the Rangers along with four other talented young players in exchange for then-star first baseman Mark Teixeira. Saltalamacchia never fully established himself in parts of four seasons in Texas before he was swapped to the Red Sox in a decidedly less flashy deal that nevertheless paid dividends for his new team.

It’s not yet clear what Saltalamacchia will pursue next from a professional perspective, but he says his initial focus will be outside of the game. As he puts it, it is now his turn to join the “cheering section” for his wife and four daughters after they did the same for him over his long playing career. MLBTR extends its best wishes to Saltalamacchia and his family.

Dillon Gee Announces Retirement

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Right-hander Dillon Gee took to Instagram on Monday evening to announce that after a professional career that spanned more than a decade and included parts of eight MLB seasons and a season in Japan, he is retiring from the game.

Gee, who’ll turn 33 in April, spent the 2018 season with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but, prior to that, appeared in eight consecutive MLB seasons with the Mets, Royals, Rangers and Twins.

Gee’s most prominent role came with the Mets, his original organization, from the 2011-14 seasons, during which he was largely a fixture in the team’s rotation. Gee appeared in 101 games, 98 of them starts, across that four-year stretch and gave the Mets a fairly steady stream of reliable innings. While he was oft overshadowed by a series of vaunted arms who were emerging on the scene around that same time (e.g. Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler), Gee turned in 606 2/3 innings of 4.01 ERA ball in that four-year period.

Unfortunately, as is the case with so many pitchers, injuries took their toll on Gee following that run. Gee dealt with a blood clot that required surgery in 2012 and perhaps even more detrimentally underwent the dreaded thoracic outlet surgery following the 2016 season. He’d go on to return with better results than many TOS patients, pitching to a 3.47 ERA through 49 1/3 innings between the Rangers and Twins in 2017, though that also proved to be his last MLB action.

In all, Gee will retire with a career 51-48 record, a 4.09 ERA, 6.5 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9 over the life of 853 2/3 Major League innings. Though he’ll retire at a relatively young age, Gee still did quite well for himself in baseball, taking home north of $13MM in player salaries — a sum that most 21st-round selections can scarcely fathom.

Ricky Romero Announces Retirement

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Left-handed hurler Ricky Romero recently announced his retirement in an Instagram post that flew under our radar at the time. He hangs up his spikes at 34 years of age.

At one point, the former sixth-overall draft pick looked to be among the game’s better young pitchers — a quality rotation piece who could handle a big innings load, even if not an ace. But his career spun out in surprisingly quick and conclusive fashion, and he was never able to get it going again.

Upon breaking into the majors in 2009, Romero turned in a string of productive seasons, improving his bottom-line results as he went. He inked a $30.1MM extension in the midst of the 2010 campaign, a significant contract that nevertheless seemed destined to be a good one for the organization after the ensuing campaign.

Romero’s third season in the majors was his best — a 225-inning, 2.92 ERA gem in 2011. He earned an All-Star nod and placed tenth in the American League Cy Young voting. Though he was not then and never would be much of a strikeout pitcher, Romero induced loads of grounders (54.7%) and certainly seemed capable of continuing to deliver strong results for years to come.

Unfortunately, disaster struck in 2012. Romero pitched a full season, but that may not have been wise. As he discussed with Vice Sports more recently, he was battling through pain over the course of that season. Romero  ended the year with a 5.77 ERA, an ugly combination of 6.2 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9, and lingering health issues — he ultimately required surgery for matching torn quad tendons — that he never fully recovered from.

As it turned out, Romero would only throw 7 1/3 MLB frames after the end of his age-27 season. The Blue Jays ended up cutting their losses and absorbing the remainder of the money they owed Romero. He ended up landing with the Giants in an effort to find himself, but never managed to gain traction during his three years with the organization. A brief run in the Mexican League also fizzled out.

As the above-linked piece documents, Romero had tried more recently to get on track by engaging a few trusted advisers and trying to get his flow back. Obviously, that attempt did not enable the southpaw to make it back to the major league hill, but it certainly can’t be said that he fell short for a lack of trying. MLBTR wishes Romero the best in his future undertakings.

Shawn Tolleson Announces Retirement

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Former Rangers closer Shawn Tolleson announced his retirement from baseball on Wednesday. The right-hander had previously signed a minor league contract with Texas and planned to head to Major League Spring Training and compete for a job. However, the Rangers’ release today revealed that he’s experienced a setback in his rehab from Tommy John surgery. Said Tolleson in a statement, via the Rangers:

My intention was to compete for a position on the Rangers’ Major League pitching staff in 2019. With that no longer being a possibility, I have decided this is the right time to retire from professional baseball and move on to the next chapter of my life. I want to thank the Texas Rangers organization for all of their assistance in my rehab over the last year. It was a dream come true to pitch for my hometown team for three years, and my family and I will always be grateful for that opportunity.

From 2014-15, Tolleson was a high-quality late-inning option for the Rangers — first as a setup man and then as a closer. Over the course of those two seasons, he worked to a 2.88 ERA with 9.1 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 144 innings — highlighted by a terrific 35-save campaign in 2015 that earned him a 10th-place finish in American League Cy Young voting.

Back injuries limited Tolleson to 36 1/3 innings in 2016, though, during which time he struggled to a 7.68 ERA. Following that rough campaign, he signed on with the Rays but required Tommy John surgery in Spring Training. He’d go on to miss each of the next two season as he recovered.

Tolleson’s career will be far more abbreviated than he or any of his three big league organizations would’ve otherwise hoped, but he’ll nevertheless retire with a lifetime 3.92 ERA, a 14-8 record, 46 saves, 8.8 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 spread across parts of five big league seasons between the Dodgers and his hometown Rangers.

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