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Retirement

Carlos Pena To Sign Contract To Retire As Member Of Rays

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The Rays will sign first baseman Carlos Pena to a contract in order to allow him to retire as a member of the organization, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. The 37-year-old Dominican native has not played with any organization this year.

Though he ultimately made many stops along the way in his 14 big league seasons, Pena enjoyed his longest and most successful stint in Tampa Bay. After originally signing there as a minor league free agent, Pena put up a monster 2007 season in which he swatted 46 home runs and carried a 1.037 OPS. He inked a three-year, $24.25MM extension thereafter.

Though he never quite reached that peak again, Pena put up a .230/.360/.483 slash over his five years with the Rays, the last of which came after a one-year stop with the Cubs. He was also a significant contributor to the club’s 2008 and 2010 playoff teams, compiling a .269/.388/.522 batting line with four home runs in his 80 post-season plate appearances.

Before heading to Tampa Bay, Pena spent an extended stretch with the Tigers. Though he was an above-average hitter, he didn’t consistently produce there as he did later. Pena also made a stop in Chicago, as noted above, and had short tenures with the Rangers, Royals, Red Sox, Astros, and Athletics. He had an unsuccessful late-season run last year in Texas, and it appears as if that will represent his final work at the MLB level.

While Pena was born in the Dominican Republic, he played high school and college ball in the United States, making him draft-eligible. He was taken with the tenth pick of the 1998 draft by the Rangers and soon became one of the game’s highest-rated prospects. But Pena was dealt twice in 2002, not long after reaching the majors, first heading to Oakland and then on to Detroit (as portrayed in the Moneyball book and film).

It took some time until Pena made good on his full promise, but he certainly did that for the Rays. MLBTR offers its congratulations on an outstanding career, and wishes him the best as he moves on to other pursuits.

Francisco Cordero Formally Announces Retirement

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Longtime closer Francisco Cordero has officially announced his retirement, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes. Cordero, of course, hasn’t pitched in the Majors in three seasons — his last big league game came on Aug. 1, 2012 — but he had yet to fully give up on his goal of returning, as evidenced by the fact that he pitched in winter ball in 2013 and 2014 and also went to Spring Training with the Red Sox in 2014.

Cordero explained to Rojas that he didn’t want to walk away without making a formal announcement of his decision, and so even though he himself suggested that the timing is a bit unusual, he still felt it was the right thing to do. Cordero formally thanked each organization for which he pitched over the course of a 20-year professional career and the fans who supported him during that time.

Originally signed by the Tigers at the age of 19 back in 1994, the now-40-year-old Cordero made exactly 800 relief appearances (no starts) with the Tigers, Rangers, Reds, Blue Jays, Brewers and Astros from 1999-2012. The Dominican hurler compiled a lifetime 3.38 ERA with 8.7 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, 329 saves and a 47-53 win-loss record. Cordero made the All-Star team on three occasions, and though he never led the league in saves, he did record three seasons of 40-plus saves, topping out at 49 in 2004.

Cordero’s consistently strong results from 2002-07 led him to sign one of the largest contracts ever received by a relief pitcher — a four-year, $46MM contract with Cincinnati that, to this day, is topped only by Jonathan Papelbon’s $50MM guarantee with the Phillies and B.J. Ryan’s $47MM guarantee with the Blue Jays. In total, Cordero earned more than $66MM over the life of his career, according to Baseball-Reference.com. MLBTR wishes him and his family happiness in his post-playing days.

Tim Hudson Says He’ll Retire After The Season

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Giants righty Tim Hudson says he’s hanging up his cleats after the season, as John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Twitter. Previously, the 40-year-old had indicated that he was likely to retire, but it now appears he has made up his mind.

“This is definitely my last year, for sure,” said the veteran. “It’s the right thing to do. It’s the right time for me and my family.”

This season hasn’t been quite the send-off that Hudson might have hoped for (though he had quite a memorable outing last night). He has missed time due to injury and is carrying an ERA over four per nine for just the third time in 17 seasons.

But Hudson is still remarkably useful given his age. He has continued to generate a groundball rate of over 50% and would undoubtedly draw plenty of interest as a free agent were he to consider signing.

Still, it’s not terribly surprising to hear that Hudson has decided to call it quits. He has made clear throughout the year that things were likely headed in that direction. And as he and his wife discussed in the above-linked piece, via Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, a variety of considerations beyond pitching capability have driven the decision.

We’ll have to wait until the end of the year to make a final tally of Hudson’s overall body of work, but needless to say, it will be impressive. Hudson broke into the league with the Athletics back in 1999, spent nine years with the Braves, and capped it off in San Francisco. All told, he has racked up over 3,000 innings with a lifetime earned run average of less than 3.50 runs per nine innings.

Those results came mostly via a sterling 58.0% career groundball rate rather than dominant strikeout tallies. In fact, Hudson has averaged only 6.0 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in his career. He nevertheless managed to compile over fifty wins above replacement over his career as a consistent, quality, and durable rotation piece.

That body of work is probably not enough to get him into Cooperstown, but Hudson undoubtedly rates as one of the best pitchers of his era.

Chris Perez Retires

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Right-hander Chris Perez has retired, as the International League transactions page first reflected and as the Orioles have confirmed to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Baltimore had inked Perez while he was in the midst of a 50-game suspension for recreational drug use.

Perez is only 30 years old, though he’s seen action in seven MLB campaigns and thrown 379 1/3 career innings from the pen. He compiled a 3.51 ERA in that span, averaging 8.6 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 while racking up 133 total saves.

Things haven’t been very smooth for Perez in recent years, on or off the field. Cleveland released him after a mediocre 2013 season (and otherwise would have non-tendered him), and he continued to put up marginal results after signing an incentive-laden free agent contract with the Dodgers.

Perez was twice hit with bans relating to a drug of abuse, and failed to reach the majors this season after signing a minor league pact with the Brewers. He opted out of that deal earlier in the year, but has not made any appearances since.

Of course, Perez did have some quality moments in his career. He’d been a regular contributor previously, but 2010 marked the emergence of the then-24-year-old as a late-inning arm. Including that campaign and the two that followed, he put up 180 1/3 frames of 2.84 ERA pitching while serving as the Indians’ closer — the role for which he’ll be best remembered.

Ruben Rivera Retires

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Former big-league outfielder and top prospect Ruben Rivera appears to have retired as a player, MiDiario.com reports (link in Spanish). Rivera will now become a hitting coach for his former team, the Olmecas de Tabasco.

Among many US readers, this news will surely be greeted with confusion, since Rivera last appeared in the big leagues in 2003, but he has been a star in Mexico for a decade since then, hitting at least 20 home runs in eight separate years in the Mexican League and also posting several strong seasons in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.

The 41-year-old Rivera has a somewhat different history in the United States, of course. He signed with the Yankees in 1990, and Baseball America ranked him in the top ten prospects in baseball in 1995, 1996 and 1997. After a trade to the Padres, though, he never had sustained success in the big leagues, generally posting low batting averages and on-base percentages in parts of four seasons in San Diego.

After being released, he headed to the Reds before returning to the Yankees prior to the 2002 season. The Yankees then released him after an infamous incident in which he took equipment from Derek Jeter to sell to a sports memorabilia dealer. He then played briefly for the Rangers and Giants (during which he was part of one of the greatest baserunning gaffes of all time) before heading to the minors and ultimately to Mexico. For his big-league career, Rivera hit .216/.307/.393 in 1818 plate appearances spanning nine seasons.

Marco Scutaro Signs Contract To Retire As Member Of Giants

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The Giants have re-signed infielder Marco Scutaro to a Major League contract and immediately placed him on the 60-day DL, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links). The move is a symbolic gesture that will allow Scutaro to retire as a member of the Giants organization. The 39-year-old will continue to rehab, Schulman says, but only to improve the quality of life he can have in his post-playing days.

Marco Scutaro

It’s a classy move from the organization that released Scutaro this past January in order to free up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster. Scutaro’s final seasons with the Giants were slowed by a number of back injuries that limited him to 127 games in 2013 and just five games in 2014. As the Chronicle’s John Shea tweets, the Giants made this move as a gesture because they didn’t want a playoff hero’s career to end with a release.

“Playoff hero” is certainly an apt description for Scutaro, but it may actually undersell his importance to the 2012 Giants. Acquired from the division-rival Rockies in exchange for Charlie Culberson, Scutaro took San Francisco by storm in the second half of the 2012 season. He batted a Herculean .362/.385/.473 in 61 contests for the Giants down the stretch before hitting .500 (14-for-28) and taking home NLCS MVP honors. The Giants, of course, would go on to win the World Series in decisive fashion, sweeping the Tigers to take home their second championship in three years.

Scutaro’s brilliant performance led the team to re-sign him to a three-year, $20MM contract that offseason. Though the aforementioned injuries did limit his playing time in 2013, Scutaro still batted a very solid .297/.357/.369 in the 127 games he was healthy, combining that above-average production with sound defense and plus baserunning to produce more than two wins above replacement.

Originally signed by the Indians in 1994, Scutaro is a personification of the “late bloomer” in sports. He debuted with the Mets in 2002 at the age of 26 but didn’t total more than 91 plate appearances in either of his two years with New York. The A’s gave Scutaro his first semi-regular action in 2004, but he never even reached 500 plate appearances in a single season until 2008 with the Blue Jays — his age-32 season. Until that point, Scutaro had looked the part of a solid utility player rather than a starter.

Sound work with the Blue Jays in 2008-09 led the Red Sox to sign him to a two-year, $12.5MM contract with a club option for a third season. Scutaro was again very good in two seasons with Boston (.284/.343/.401), who traded him to the Rockies prior to 2012 in exchange for right-hander Clayton Mortensen.

All told, Scutaro will finish his career with a .277/.341/.388 batting line, 77 homers, 55 steals, 22.2 rWAR and 18.6 fWAR. He earned nearly $49MM, according to Baseball-Reference.com — an incredible sum for someone who had essentially been a light-hitting utility infielder through his age-31 season in the mid-2000s. We at MLBTR wish Marco the best of luck as well as health and happiness in his post-playing career.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Erik Bedard To Retire

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Dodgers lefty Erik Bedard has decided to retire, according to a tweet from the club’s High-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga. He has seen action in parts of eleven big league seasons.

Bedard, 36, was only just returning to action after suffering a strained muscle in his back. He had thrown 14 1/3 innings at the High-A level on the season, striking out seven and walking one while allowing eight earned runs.

The southpaw is well removed from his heyday, but was once one of the more effective starters in the game. Pitching for the Orioles, he came in fifth in the Cy Young voting back in 2007, when he threw 182 innings of 3.16 ERA ball with a league-leading 10.9 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9.

That big campaign led the Mariners’ to deal for him, forking over a prospect package fronted by Adam Jones and Chris Tillman to add him. Though Bedard continued to put up good results, shoulder issues bit hard and limited him to 255 1/3 frames over his three years in Seattle (plus another 38 after he was dealt to the Red Sox in the middle of 2011).

Bedard has bounced around since, putting up solid strikeout numbers but failing to hold down the free passes. All told, Bedard has racked up just over 1,300 big league innings of 3.99 ERA pitching while averaging 8.6 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, and a 41.9% groundball rate.

Rafael Furcal To Retire

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Royals infielder Rafael Furcal has decided to retire, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The 37-year-old had been attempting a comeback bid in the Kansas City organization.

Furcal, who hails from the Dominican Republic, signed with the Braves as an amateur free agent in 1996. He hit the big leagues with Atlanta at age 22, won the Rookie of the Year Award, and ultimately spent six years there and another half dozen with the Dodgers during his prime.

Furcal posted nearly-identical batting lines over each of those stints — .283/.351/.406 in Atlanta, .284/.348/.409 in Los Angeles — though he obviously had some ups and downs over his first twelve years. Possessing surprising pop for his size, Furcal hit over 100 big league long balls and put up four-straight double digit campaigns.

One thing that never seemed to waver much was Furcal’s value on the bases and in the field. Both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference credit him with better than thirty career wins above replacement, in spite of an approximately league-average bat, based upon those contributions. Furcal ultimately topped three hundred career steals.

Furcal’s later career was marred by injury. After joining the Cardinals in the middle of the 2011 campaign, he put up a solid .262/.323/.367 batting line in 748 plate appearances for St. Louis. But he was forced out of action late in the tam’s 2012 World Series run with a UCL sprain, and ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss all of the following year.

Though the elbow injury did not prevent Furcal from making a run at a return, he made just 37 trips to the plate with the Marlins last year before hamstring issues ended his season. That leg muscle apparently let him down again in his more recent bid with the Royals, as Flanagan tweets that Furcal decided to call it quits after another hamstring problem arose.

All said, the somewhat disappointing end to his career does not mar its excellence. At his best, Furcal was among the most productive players in the league, and he was at least an above-average regular for much of his career. MLBTR extends its best wishes as he turns the page.

Bruce Chen Announces Retirement

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Lefty Bruce Chen has announced on Twitter that he will retire from professional baseball. Chen, 37, was designated for assignment by the Indians on Saturday.

Chen struggled through 6 1/3 innings in two starts this year for Cleveland, permitting nine earned runs. He struck out four and walked one batter, but gave up 17 total hits — including three long balls.

Of course, Chen has long provided plenty of innings and flexibility to 11 total MLB clubs. The wily southpaw never relied much on velocity, working in the mid-80s in recent seasons. But that didn’t stop him from compiling over 1,500 innings in the majors.

All said, the Panamanian native compiled a 4.62 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 over 17 big league campaigns. Chen broke into the big leagues with the Braves at age 21. Atlanta signed him as an amateur way back in 1993.

Chen is, perhaps, most associated with the Royals, with whom he spent six seasons. His time in K.C. represented something of a late-career renaissance, as he compiled 5.6 rWAR in that span (in spite of a rough final campaign).

The Orioles arguably enjoyed Chen’s most productive overall campaign in 2005, when he racked up a career-high 197 1/3 frames while working to a 3.83 ERA. He ultimately spent three years with Baltimore, with his 343 2/3 innings with the O’s representing the second-most he logged with any single team.

Be sure to give a read to Chen’s Twitter timeline to read through his classy tip of the cap to the fans and teams he played for. MLBTR joins those around the game congratulating Chen on his career and wishing him luck in his future endeavors.

Boof Bonser Retires

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Former Twins pitcher Boof Bonser says he has retired in an interview with Twinkie Town. (The news was initially reported in January on the blog Boston Sports For Life.) The 33-year-old Bonser last pitched competitively in 2014, when he made 12 appearances for Bridgeport in the independent Atlantic League. He last appeared in the big leagues in 2010.

The Giants took Bonser with the 21st overall pick in the 2000 draft, then sent him to Minnesota with Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano in their infamous trade for A.J. Pierzynski. Bonser stuck in the big leagues with the Twins for the better part of three years, first as a starter and then as a reliever, before shoulder troubles caused him to miss the 2009 season. The Twins traded Bonser to Boston the following year, and he made brief appearances with the Red Sox and Athletics before spending several seasons in the minors. Bonser finishes his career with a 5.18 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 416 2/3 big-league innings.

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