#Birmingham Black Barons
IF Rabbit Maranville decided to hang up his cleats after a year that saw him play in only 9 games as a 39 year old.
34 year old Charlie Keller decided to retire, despite a solid showing for Atlanta (after a horrible start to the season with Newark).
#Brooklyn Royal Giants
Reliever Eric Gagne will be back for at least one more year, signing a $890k contract. There are rumors that this may mean Gagne moves into the closer’s role with Watty Clark becoming a starter. The challenge here is that Clark was very effective as a closer.
The Royal Giants released C Steve Yeager and OF Michael Brantley.
#Miami Cuban Giants
32 year old 1B Carlos Peña decided to hang up his cleats, despite slugging over .700 at AAA. But with only 10 WBL at-bats and a bit of a logjam at 1B in front of him, he decided his best choice was to move on from his playing days.
The Cuban Giants avoided arbitration with Gary Sheffield, signing him to a $1.2M, one year deal. Clearly, the amount is based on Sheffield’s potential, not his somewhat underwhelming numbers from last year.
#Portland Sea Dogs
A trio of 35 year old hurlers retired from Portland’s AA club: Jim Perry, Will Harris, and Tippy Martinez. Perry was hit hard and Harris rarely used, but Martinez had a decent year, so his announcement at least was a bit of a surprise.
40 year old knuckleballer Charlie Hough decided enough was enough, deciding to retire at the end of the AAA season.
#San Francisco Sea Lions
40 year old Chipper Jones had wanted to go out with a little more fanfare. Instead, a 131/233/263 start over roughly 100 AB’s with Birmingham led to him being cut, picked up by San Francisco, but hitting even worse for the Sea Lions at AAA. Jones and fellow 3B Lave Cross both announced their retirement from the game.
Minor league OF Tony Armas lost his arbitration case, but will still earn $310k next season.
San Francisco released 2B Keith Ginter and P Carlos Carrasco, with neither move being particularly surprising.