Right-hander Jake Peavy has retired from Major League Baseball, per recent reports from Scott Miller of Bleacher Report and Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Peavy told Miller that he has abandoned any comeback plans in 2019, though it looks like he still intends to be involved in baseball at some point.
It’s been nearly three years since the 37-year-old righty made any kind of official appearance in the majors. After getting his start with the Padres in 2002, he played multi-season gigs with the White Sox, Red Sox, and Giants, compiling a cumulative 3.63 ERA, 2,207 strikeouts, and 44.1 fWAR across 15 years in the league. His most memorable performance came during the Padres’ 2007 campaign, when he commanded a 19-6 record with a league-best 2.54 ERA, 240 strikeouts, and a 2.84 FIP through 223 1/3 innings -- numbers so crisp that they merited a second career All-Star nomination, seventh place in NL MVP voting, and Peavy’s first and only NL Cy Young Award.
In the decade that followed those accolades, however, Peavy struggled to sustain that kind of dominance on the mound. During his 2010 run with the White Sox, he tore his right latissimus dorsi tendon completely off the bone and had just made a full recovery when he went back on the injured list with a rotator cuff injury. His last several seasons were marked by further injuries -- a fractured rib, a severe laceration to his non-pitching hand, a lingering back strain -- and despite two World Series runs with the 2013 Red Sox and 2014 Giants, he ended his time in MLB with some career-worst numbers: a 5.54 ERA, 2.7 BB/9, 7.7 SO/9, and 0.7 fWAR through 118 2/3 innings in San Francisco.
Last May, after a year’s absence from the majors and some intense personal issues, Peavy told reporters that he had regained full mobility in his arm and intended to pitch again during the 2018 season. No teams ended up nabbing the veteran starter, however. Now, as Miller reported Friday, it looks as though he’ll focus on family responsibilities instead.
