You sign a 38 year old pitcher, because even in the last few seasons he has been very dominant.  You sign him to 3 years and 10 million per year.  If he retires after one season.....do you still pay him for the other two years?

I've never seen a player retire in the middle of a contract.  Does this ever happen?

You signed Gil Meche?

Posted by keithjs on 1/24/2011 8:11:00 PM (view original):
I've never seen a player retire in the middle of a contract.  Does this ever happen?

No, it doesn't.

I thought maybe it would happen.  I don't ever recall seeing a player play in their 40's though.  This guy was the guy I was considering:

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=627967

Guys do play in their 40's, and it may be more likely that they do with a very high make-up rating.

I think as long as you keep offerring a guy a ML contract, and keeping him in the majors every season, he'll continue to play into his 100s.  The only guys who seem to retire are the guys who finished the prior season in the minors and don't have a contract in place as the season flips.

Wow, he's barely slipped at all even to 38.  He'll be a great starter for the next couple years.   Go for it.

But guys won't continue to play as long as you offer them a ML contract.  Eventually they won't accept a contract extension.

Posted by mhulshult on 1/25/2011 11:28:00 AM (view original):
Wow, he's barely slipped at all even to 38.  He'll be a great starter for the next couple years.   Go for it.

But guys won't continue to play as long as you offer them a ML contract.  Eventually they won't accept a contract extension.

1)  Agree; I've seen guys retire abruptly at the end of a major league contract without trying to re-up, although I'm not sure I've seen that in someone under 40.
2)  This dude's skill ratings dropped a tick last year; at his age they often go fast after the first slight decline.  I'd put a mutual option on that 3rd season.

Ditto

To answer your question, at least using real baseball rules, no, you don't have to pay him if he retires.

Players do start to decline very rapidly in-season by age 38 (some start earlier, but 38 seems to be absolute drop-dead point for everyone).

That said, this guy in question is clearly a superior player and should remain highly effective this year and be very good next year, but I would give him a mutual option for the last year. He will almost certainly not be worth $10 million at that point, so think of the $2.5 million you'll owe him then as a signing bonus.

Bidding on him got out of control.  I had to call it quits after offering him 3 years for $18 mil per season.  Two years was all I really wanted out of him.

WiS definitely confirmed at some point in the past that a player will never retire as long as he's under ML contract.

Posted by dwoolery on 1/24/2011 8:22:00 PM (view original):
You signed Gil Meche?

Gil Meche and the term ' very dominate' just don't go in the same sentence together lol