Out of Nowhere Player Retirement

[JTWood]

Looking for some help trying to figure out what just happened.

One of my better players sent me a message "By your inaction, you have shown me that you don't care about how I feel." He then tells me that he'll retire if I don't trade him. I don't trade him, and he retires a few days later.

I never received a single correspondence from him prior to this. The only thing I can see is that his morale wasn't perfect because the manager - whom I let set lineups - wasn't batting him in the middle of the lineup. He was making $10.5M for two years after this and was my highest-paid player. He was having a pretty decent offensive season, too. So money/extension request/performance probably wasn't the issue.

What did I do wrong? I have a huge hole in my SS position on June 9th, and I'm not sure why...

[scott1964]

Some players just retire.

[Pacoheadley]

A flawed storyline, that is what happened. This should only happen with players who have had a horrible morale for a year or more, at least...

[JTWood]

Originally Posted by Pacoheadley

A flawed storyline, that is what happened. This should only happen with players who have had a horrible morale for a year or more, at least...

So I should post this over in the support forum?

[MizzouRah]

Yeah, that storyline is bugged. I had the same thing happen, although I wasn't playing the player - but I traded him and a few days later he retires from the team I traded him too.

[soxfan34]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Yeah, that storyline is bugged. I had the same thing happen, although I wasn't playing the player - but I traded him and a few days later he retires from the team I traded him too.

Switch to commish mode and un-retire him

[JTWood]

Originally Posted by soxfan34

Switch to commish mode and un-retire him

Does that work? I mean, does it reset his morale?

Basically, I would hate to do that and then have him just unretire again a day later.

[Erik]

Sounds like this story line needs to be deleted. This is not very realistic. Why would a player retire because a team wasn't playing him? He'd demand to be traded or released so he could sign elsewhere. He wouldn't just retire from the game.

[JTWood]

He was playing. For a team with a 70+% winning percentage.
He was even batting #2 most games.

The only thing that I can see that upset him was that he wasn't batting 3/4/5.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by soxfan34

Switch to commish mode and un-retire him

Yeah.. I did that already.. just found it to be funny. I almost didn't because it was the Reds and all.

[Cras]

A busted storyline. Its not the first. If playing with those on, keep an eye on what is going on. Some of them are not so subtle. Or resemble real life.

[JTWood]

Originally Posted by Cras

A busted storyline. Its not the first. If playing with those on, keep an eye on what is going on. Some of them are not so subtle. Or resemble real life.

Am I better off turning them off? What will I lose if I do?

[JTWood]

[VanillaGorilla]

See Ryne Sandberg's first retirement. Was highest paid player in baseball, and retired. Perhaps you can read into the game storyline that the real reason for retirement is not the one given in public.

[JTWood]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

See Ryne Sandberg's first retirement. Was highest paid player in baseball, and retired. Perhaps you can read into the game storyline that the real reason for retirement is not the one given in public.

Where would I find that at?

[termcl]

John Kruk retired in the middle of a game. He hit a single which raised his lifetime batting average to .300 and promptly called time and walked off the field to the locker room. See the below quote from Wikipedia:

Moving to the American League to serve as a designated hitter, Kruk signed with the Chicago White Sox, batting .308/.399/.390. On July 30, 1995, in a game at Baltimore's Camden Yards stadium, Kruk singled and retired standing on first base, taking himself out of the game never to play again.

[VanillaGorilla]

Originally Posted by JTWood

Where would I find that at?

His public reason was that the game was no longer fun. Since the game was no longer fun, he could not continue to take money to play at a level he did not reasonably expect to play.

The reason the game was no longer fun was left for others to decipher. He chose not to air dirty laundry and bring down others by doing so. He returned to the game when he had personal matters resolved and was ready to be the player that the Cubs were willing to pay him to be. Class behavior on his part every step of the way.

I wish I could say that the Cubs have treated him with the same amount of class over the past two seasons. Not speaking specifically in monetary terms, the organization as well as the city of Chicago are the poorer for not doing so.

As far as the specifics of his retirement and his reasons, all I can offer are rumors. Ryne Sandberg was a childhood hero, and one of the few childhood heroes of mine that have proven to be worthy of my adult adulation. I am not going to bring up 20 year-old dirt, no matter how well placed the sources are, when the man himself found it best not to do so then, or (to my knowledge) since.

His public statements saying the game was no longer fun were not untruthful. He did choose not to get into the specific aspects of why the game was no longer fun, at that time. That was his call to make, and the classy way to go.

[TNCubsFan]

To state a reason without getting to detailed about Rino's retirement.

Apparently his wife was having relations with one or more players. He left to try to save the marriage while she had no real interest in doing so. Once he had a chance to breathe a bit and regenerate his energy he returned to the Cubs.

As VG states he was a class act through it all. I however, am very glad to see him not be around this rebuilding organization. Losing seasons age you like four winning ones and the masses think your baseball IQ and ability are tied to winning percentage.

Better to let him ply his trade where he can just be a baseball guy and not the "Rino". IMO.