In a released statement by the Kansas City Royals, Gil Meche has announced his retirement. Sources close to Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports told him that Meche will indeed forfeit the $12 million salary he was going to receive from the Royals in 2011.

“After a lot of thinking and prioritizing of issues in my life I have decided to retire from baseball. As a competitor my entire life this is the hardest decision that I’ve ever faced, but it’s not fair to me, my family or the Kansas City Royals that I attempt to pitch anymore. I came into this game as a starting pitcher and unfortunately my health, more accurately, my shoulder, has deteriorated to the point where surgery would be the only option and at this stage of my life I would prefer to call it a career rather than to attempt to pitch in relief for the final year of my contract. I can’t thank the Kansas City Royals and their fans enough for my four seasons there and if I have any regret, it’s that we weren’t able to accomplish on the field what the goal was when I signed there.”

The 32-year-old had a career 84-83 record with a 4.49 ERA in 10 Major League seasons with the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals.