Veteran righty Jamey Wright, who was in camp with the Dodgers on a minor league deal, is set to retire, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick was among those to tweet. The 41-year-old didn’t appear professionally last season after he was released late in camp by the Rangers.
Wright has pitched in 19 big league seasons over his lengthy career, which was divided roughly into two portions. He entered the league in the rotation and ultimately made just under 250 starts, the vast majority of them coming between 1996 and 2006.
The results weren’t always there, as he ran up a 5.13 ERA and 1.06 K:BB ratio in that role, but it’s fair to note that he spent a good portion of that period working in an inflated run-scoring environment. And, of course, Wright spent six seasons with the Rockies — the team with which he entered the league.
Wright ultimately shifted to a relief role after joining the Rangers in 2007. After that transition year, he went on a seven-year run in which he compiled a 4.03 ERA over 498 frames, with 6.7 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9.
The timeless right-hander turned in a productive campaign as recently as 2013, when he tossed 70 innings for the Rays and carried a 3.09 ERA with 8.4 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 — all career-best single-season tallies (except, of course, the innings). In his final season, with the Dodgers in 2014, Wright again topped 70 frames but fell back to a 4.35 earned run mark.
All told, Wright suited up for ten MLB teams. His longest run was with Colorado, but Wright also spent three years with the Brewers. He appeared in two seasons in Los Angeles and also had repeat appearances for the Royals, Rangers, and Mariners. As if that weren’t enough, Wright enjoyed single-season stints with Tampa Bay as well as the Giants, Indians, and (only briefly) the Cardinals.
MLBTR wishes the respected veteran the best of luck in his future pursuits
BlueSkyLA
Anybody who can play this game to 40 or beyond gets a crisp salute from this fan.
Ray Ray
The Rockies 2nd ever 1st round pick. With Gray getting injured and Wright retiring, that means Tulo will be the only Colorado first round pick to be on anyone’s 25 man roster this year. That is proof of a really crappy draft record.
No Soup For Yu!
Personally, I think think the most “Jamey Wright-esque” statistic ever is his 8 year streak of making the 25 man roster despite being a non roster invite from 2006-2013. Really speaks to his level of determination. Good luck in your post playing days Jamey.
Francisco
I can’t believe 19 years in big leagues. Pretty crazy one of those guys you wouldn’t expect but good for him.
southpaw2153
Proof that there are way too many teams in MLB, watering down the talent dramatically. This guy’s #s are god awful. 4.81 career ERA, a 1.545 career WHIP, not even a 2:1 K/BB ratio. This guy should’ve been out of MLB long ago. Yikes.
Cam
Career 96 ERA+, which indicates he was only slightly below average,.
Bottom line is, he wasn’t great. But if everyone is great, then they aren’t actually great, are they?
Ray Ray
You do realize that his numbers are skewed since almost 40% of his career innings were pitched as a Rockie in pre-humidor Coors where 10-9 games were the norm not the exception. Take away his Colorado stats and his career ERA is around 4.25. Not HOF worthy by any means, but definitely nothing to be ashamed of. Perhaps your comment is proof that you might not know more than GMs about baseball rosters despite your knowing how to use Google and read Fangraphs. The guy had a very respectable career.
southpaw2153
Ray ray, he pitched a little less than a third of his career innings at Coors Field. Sorry if you’re a fanboy of his and my post hurt your little feelings. Wright was terrible, period. Had baseball not over expanded the past 23 years, this guy would’ve never even been on a major league roster. Being healthy enough to throw innings doesn’t qualify him for sainthood. Get a grip.
Ray Ray
Hurt my little feelings? Really? Sorry if this is not the first time you have heard this today, but you are not important enough to have an affect on my life.. I guess I must have missed the part where I nominated him for sainthood. Either that or you needn’t worry about my grip and worry about yours on reality.
southpaw2153
Have fun watching the Rockies lose a ” respectable” 95- 100 games this year. Lol
bigpapijuicer
792 out of 2037 = a little less than a third?
Good math, bro!
chiburgh 2
Jamey will be a Westmoore Jaguar for life.
Mark 21
He was to good for YOUR SOX.
realgone2
I got a legit question. Before the revamping of the site I got banned from posting for arguing with another poster. Yet this guy can keep doing this lame red sox gimmick and no one has booted him. Why?
Mark 21
I guess the moderators like him. Not sure why. He has plenty of people mad at him LOL I saw one post that people said they are leaving these threads cause of him. Pretty bad when you drive people to leave the pages.
timyanks
jamey must be one of the most released/granted free agency players, ever.
jd396
It won’t be too long before we won’t have any players who played in the 1990s.