30-somethings grinding to extend careers

BRADENTON, FLA. » Jarrod Dyson kept waiting for the phone to ring. As December faded and the hot stove cooled, one thought kept running through the free agent outfielder’s mind.

“You mean to tell me I can’t help nobody win?” said Dyson, who stole 30 bases for Arizona in 2019 before hitting the open market last fall.

Dyson’s won plenty. He offers the World Series ring he earned while playing for the Kansas City Royals in 2015 as proof. He appeared in 130 games at age 34 last season for a Diamondbacks team that hung around the playoff picture until the final week of the season. He’s been part of a rebuilding projects and raucous October celebrations. Now in the final innings of a decade-long career, he wouldn’t mind another shot at a playoff run.

Yet the only palatable job offer Dyson received came from Pittsburgh. The Pirates are in need of a stopgap in center field after

dealing Gold Glover Starling Marte to Arizona last month. So Dyson signed for one year and $2million. Sure he considered holding out for a chance to catch on with a team that’s not hitting reset following a lastplace finish in the NL Central in 2019.

He needed a gig. Pittsburgh offered him one that pays a healthy wage. Things could be worse. A lot worse.

“Everybody wants to be with a winning team but at the same time, you’ve got to get in where you fit in,” Dyson said. “I can’t be sitting at home waiting on a playoff team to call me. The Pirates gave me an opportunity, I’m going to take advantage of it.”

Dyson is hardly alone. Scan down (way down in some cases) spring training rosters and you’ll find names that look out of place, All-Stars, postseason heroes and established veterans just trying to stave off the next phase of their lives on teams where expectations (and in most cases, payroll) are modest.

Matt Kemp in Miami. Cameron May bin in Detroit. Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval back in San Francisco, where the Giants are in the midst of a massive youth movement that likely won’t be completed until well after they’re both long gone.

Pence has made more than $125 million during a career that includes winning a pair of World Series with the Giants in 2012 and 2014. That didn’t stop him from spending the offseason giving his eclectic swing a massive overhaul last spring in hopes of finding something better suited for the bat speed of a guy on the back half of his 30s.

“It takes time but it wasn’t necessarily hard,” Pence said. “Because when you’re doing something you love to do a labor of love is no labor at all. I’m having a blast. It was a joy.”

At least Pence has a guaranteed roster spot. Sandoval and Kemp not so much. Both players headed to their respective camps as non-roster invitees, baseball code for “show us you’ve still got it.” Kemp, a three-time All-Star, insists he still does. If it has to be with the perennially irrelevant Marlins, so be it.

“This is a redemption year,” Kemp said. “I had 40 at-bats last year. I was an All Star in 2018. Seriously, I can still play.”

The 35-year-old Kemp believes he’s still got at least three or four more seasons left. The addition of a 26th roster spot this season may turn out to be the lifeline players of his generation need. In a league that’s getting ever younger, having one slot slated for someone with an impressive resume and the consummate swag that goes with it could prove to be valuable.