[Lord PichuPal]

The one thing I'll contribute to this is that I like the idea of being forewarned if a guy is announcing his retirement, even if it doesn't take place until July 1st like usual. Or another way of seeing a list of the retired players. I know it doesn't always send stories out for every player, so I make a habit of going through the transaction logs for the previous season to see who retired (at least in my custom game especially, where there's only a couple leagues to check).

Only other thing I could suggest regarding stopping retirements or a hidden attribute for it is maybe the development or aging ones. If their aging stat is higher it usually means they're built to have a longer career. But like Adam pointed out, usually the stats and the player's profile can tell you a story of why they might've retired early. Chief among them "Did they play for anybody last season" or were they performing well if they did play, or even just what their ratings look like. If the guy isn't very good anymore or wasn't playing anywhere, it's more likely they'll just retire, or if they have a low potential and ability then they may not stick around for very long knowing they won't ever make it far (if no other lower leagues take them in either). A lot of things factor into it, but I wouldn't call it unrealistic either; Andrew Luck retired in the NFL in his late 20s, despite being really talented still and capable of playing longer if he wanted, he just lost the desire and motivation. Maybe storylines like that can be added in later, but for now you can try to fill in the gaps for yourself with what information the game does offer.