Rumors for Retirement
Brad Ausmus to reture after the season after 17 year career
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Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Brad Ausmus said that he will retire after the season, according to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The three-time Gold Glove award winner will retire after a 17-year career with the San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros and Dodgers.
“This year is it,” Ausmus said.
Ausmus had only played one game prior to his 12-inning appearance this season. He had a surgical procedure earlier this year to fix his back soreness at which point many people wondered why he didn’t retire instead of going through a rehabilitation process.
“I signed a contract,” he reiterated on Saturday. “It was my job to get back on the field and do it as quickly as possible, hopefully without having any setbacks.”
Aumus is currently on a $1 million contract and has a $150,000 buyout on a mutual option for next season.
Many speculate he would eventually become a big league manager, but in the meantime, he’ll take next year off and enjoy a couple of summer vacations with his family.
Joe Torre to wait until end of year to decide on retirement
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Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre said Friday that he wants to make sure he retired when he was still healthy and active, according to the Associated Press. He also said that attending Wimbledon (held from June-July every year) is on his to-do list.
“I’m not making any long-range plans,” Torre said Friday. “Not that I’m concerned about anything, I just know there are other things I want to do while I still feel good enough to continue to be active.
“I’m just going to wait toward the end of the year.”
Torre, 70, is in the final year of his three-year, $13 million contract. Torre and the team had been working on an extension before the season started, but talks were cut off. It’s believed that Don Mattingly, would succeed Torre as Dodgers’ next manager if he were to retire after the season.
“It’s still exciting, the game in the dugout is still exciting,” Torre said. “If you do it right, this job consumes you.”
Pedro Martinez unlikely to be back with the Phillies
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According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com the likelihood of Pedro Martinez returning to the Philadelphia Phillies is almost zero.
Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. spoke with Martinez’s agent, Fernando Cuza, yesterday, and he asked what Martinez has be doing lately. Cuza said that Martinez has not thrown off a mound. In comparison to last season, Martinez was throwing from the World Baseball Classic through July.
We heard last month that Martinez would need to be “really motivated” to pitch this season – meaning that any team that would want him would have to pay more than the $1 million he earned with the Phillies last year for six weeks of work. Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe said Pedro already has “one foot under the mango tree.”
The Phillies are looking for pitching. Last week, the we heard that the Phillies have been scouting all available starting pitcher for some time. They’ve looked at Roy Oswalt, Ben Sheets, Jeremy Guthrie, Dan Haren, Edwin Jackson, Fausto Carmona, Jake Westbrook and others.
Boston Red Sox Mike Lowell considering retirement?
Posted by: | CommentsBoston Red Sox Mike Lowell is currently on the 15-day disabled list for a right hip injury. He is scheduled to come off the DL this weekend, but manager Terry Francona doesn’t know if he will be ready to do that.
“He’s not ready to do that,” Francona said. “If that was going to be that quick, he’d be here with us now.”
Lowell has been given permission to be away from the team while the Sox are in Tampa Bay to take on the Rays.
Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal wonders if Lowell may be pondering retirement. Lowell has had his playing time significantly reduced with the addition of Adrian Beltre at third base. The Sox have been trying to trade Lowell, but have yet to have any takers.
MacPherson notes that if Lowell retires he would leave more than $5 million on the table. He adds that Lowell would like to contribute in the playoffs which would give him a chance to end a frustrating season on a high note.
Joe Torre to determine his future by the end of the season
Posted by: | CommentsJoe Torre hasn’t determined whether he’d like to manage the Dodgers again next year, but he did say before Sunday’s game that he doesn’t intend to keep the ball club hanging. He said he’ll make a decision on his future before the end of the season.
“Just so I don’t hamstring this organization,” said Torre, who is coming to the end of the three-year, $13 million contract he signed when he left the Yankees after the 2007 season. “I’m going to wait [to decide] until later in the season. I have to. It’s not fair to them if I don’t do that.” Asked if that decision might be made sometime in September, Torre said: “I would hope so.”
Torre, who will be 70 on July 18, has said that his health is the primary factor regarding whether he will return for another season to manage. He’s a prostate cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with the disease during Spring Training 1999. He had surgery and treatment back then, but hasn’t suffered a recurrence.
Still, cancer is always a lingering shadow.
“I hope I feel good enough next year to want to do it again,” he said.
Another thing that doesn’t help Torre in his decision to keep coaching, is having to many more defeats like the one the Dodgers were dealt in the closing game of the Yankee series.
Information from MLB.com was used in this article.
Ryan Franklin Retirement Rumors: To retire after 2011 season
Posted by: | CommentsSt. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin says that after this contract ends after the 2011 season, he will hang it up and retire. He wants to develop 80 acres of desirable real estate and enjoy 600 acres of undeveloped land he uses as a hunting preserve with his wife and three kids.
“I think I owe it to my family,” Franklin said before Friday’s series opener against the Oakland A’s. “I’ve missed a lot of things that have been going on. I don’t want to miss a lot more.
Franklin, 37, signed a two-year, below-market, $6.5 million extension last summer that runs through 2011. He is 3-0, with 13 saves and has a 2.40 ERA this season with the Cardinals.
He will fully vest his union’s pension and medical benefits after the 2010 season.
Information from Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was used in this article.
Pedro Martinez Rumors: Wants to play for contending team
Posted by: | CommentsThe agent for Pedro Martinez says the pitcher “wants to play”, but he only wants to play for a team that has a chance to win.
“He’s going to be the one to let me know, but it has to be the right situation. I know Pedro wants to play, but it definitely has to be a contending team, one that has a chance to make the playoffs and go deep,” Fernando Cuza told the Daily News. “Pedro’s in the D.R., maintaining himself in shape.”
Chipper Jones Retirement Rumors: Not going to address retirement until after the season
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to Paul Newberry of the Associated Press (via The Washington Post), Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones won’t be making a decision on retirement until after the season.
Before Thursday’s game, Jones said he won’t be discussing “the r word” until the season is over.
Jones has been meeting periodically with team president John Schuerholz and GM Frank Wren about his future.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that Jones doesn’t want to detract from the team’s playoff pursuit or from (manager) Bobby Cox’s final season.
Darin Erstad Retirement Rumors: “I’m done”
Posted by: | Comments“I’m done,” Darin Erstad said. “I had my time. I always said, ‘When I’m done, I’m done.’ … I’m good.”
The three-time Gold Glove winner Erstad is now chasing his kids rather than baseballs.
“I couldn’t be much happier,” he said from his home in Lincoln, Neb. “I got to live a dream playing baseball for 14 years, now I’m getting to live the other side and it’s a blast.”
Erstad retires with a career .282/.336/.407 in 14 seasons with the Angels, White Sox and Astros. The pinnacle of his long career was catching the final out in 2002 of the World Series that clinched the Los Angeles Angels only World Championship. The Marlins considered picking up Erstad this off-season, but did not go through with it.
Information from Dave Selvig of The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead was used in this article.
