Beltre calls it quits after storied career
Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers retired Tuesday after 21 seasons in a career in which he hit 477 home runs and became the first player from the Dominican Republic to have 3,000 hits.
The 39-year-old third baseman announced his decision in a statement released by the Rangers, saying it is time for the “next chapter of my life.”
“After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, I have made the decision to retire from what I’ve been doing my whole life, which is playing baseball, the game I love,” Beltre said. “I have thought about it a lot and although I appreciate all the opportunities and everything that baseball has given me, it’s time to call it a career.”
Beltre was a .286 hitter with 1,707 RBIs in 2,933 career games. His 3,166 hits rank 16th on baseball’s career list, with his homers total 30th and RBIs 24th. He played 2,759 games at third base — only Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson had more.
The four-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner was 19 when he made his bigleague debut with the Dodgers in 1998. He will be eligible to be on the Hall of Fame ballot in five years.
In his statement, Beltre thanked former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, then the team’s interim general manager, for “believing in this young kid from the Dominican Republic when others thought I was too young to be called up” to the majors
Beltre played with Los Angeles until 2004, then was with the Mariners from 2005 through ’09 and the Red Sox in 2010. He joined the Rangers on a $96 million, six-year free agent deal in 2011, and appeared in his only World Series in his first season with Texas.
“As much fun as people see us having at the ballpark all of the time, and playing around, I haven’t met somebody that was more detailed about the game than him,” Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus said.
Beltre hit .273 with 15 homers and 65 RBIs in 119 games this season, when he went on the disabled list twice because of an ailing left hamstring issues that also bothered him at the end of the 2017 season. Price, Venters honored: Boston pitcher David Price has won the AL Comeback Player of the Year award and Atlanta reliever Jonny Venters has earned the NL honor.
Price, a 33-year-old left-hander, was 16-7 with a 3.58 ERA in 30 starts for the Red Sox. He was 6-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 11 starts and five relief appearances in 2017, when he was slowed by left elbow inflammation.
Venters, 33, was 5-2 with three saves and a 3.67 ERA for Tampa Bay and Atlanta, which reacquired him July 26. He had not appeared in the major leagues since 2012, undergoing Tommy John surgery for the second and third times. Mets cut Mejia: Jenrry Mejia, who had 28 saves with the Mets in 2014, was released by the team after serving three drug suspensions.
Mejia, 29, was told in July by Commissioner Rob Manfred that he could return to the big leagues in 2019 after initially being suspended for life Feb. 12, 2016, after his third positive test for a banned steroid. Briefly: First baseman C.J. Cron, who batted .253 with 30 homers and 74 RBIs this year, was designated for assignment by Tampa Bay . ... Infielder/ outfielder Derek Dietrich, who hit .265 with 16 home runs in 2018, was designated for assignment by Miami . ... San Diego has agreed to sell the rights to third baseman Christian Villanueva to Japan’s Yomiuri Giants according to multiple reports. Villanueva batted .236 with 20 homers as a rookie this season. ... Cubs pitching coach Jim Hickey is leaving the organization for personal reasons after one season, the team announced.