May 11, 8:10am: Lohse tells Tony Boone of the Omaha World-Herald that this is “probably it” for his career, though he left the door open slightly in the event that a team approached him with an opportunity (Twitter link). It doesn’t sound as though agent Scott Boras will be actively pursuing new opportunities for his client, though.
May 10, 11:25pm: Shortly after being released by the Royals this afternoon, veteran right-hander Kyle Lohse took to Instagram to suggest that he is retiring from baseball after spending parts of 16 seasons in the Majors.
“It’s been a hell of a ride,” Lohse wrote with a view from the stands at a minor league game. “Baseball, you’ve taken me a lot of places I’ve never thought or even dreamed of. The highs. The lows. The people I’ve met. The teammates I’ve had the pleasure of battling alongside. The guys on the other teams I’ve had the pleasure of battling against. Time to take it to the house knowing I gave it all I had each and every time.”
Lohse made a comeback bid with the Royals this year after not pitching professionally in 2017, signing a minor league contract on March 31 but ultimately being knocked around in a pair of Triple-A starts. That, apparently, was enough to set the 39-year-old’s mind at east as he rides off into the sunset following a long and successful playing career.
Originally a 29th-round pick of the Cubs in 1996, Lohse was never considered to be an elite prospect. He went from the Cubs organization to the Twins by way of 1999’s Rick Aguilera trade and found himself in the big leagues for an up-and-coming Twins team a couple years later in 2001. Lohse’s rookie campaign was hardly noteworthy (5.68 ERA in 90 1/3 innings), but he settled in as a durable workhorse for the Twins the following season.
From 2002-05, Lohse averaged 32 starts and 189 innings per season, pitching to a 4.61 ERA with 5.4 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. That, of course, was a markedly different era of baseball, as evidenced by the fact that Lohse’s collective 4.61 ERA in those 754 1/3 innings translated to an ERA+ of 99 — meaning he was roughly a league-average starter for the Twins in a heightened offensive period for baseball.
Lohse was eventually flipped to the Reds in 2006 and would spent parts of the next two seasons in Cincinnati and Philadelphia before setting into the Cardinals’ rotation for half a decade. Lohse enjoyed some of his best seasons in St. Louis, including a 2011 season that saw him post a 3.39 ERA in 30 starts for the World Champion Cardinals and a 2012 season in which he posted a career-best 2.86 ERA in 211 innings. Lohse started the NL Wild Card game for the Cards in 2012 and took home the win in that game, setting up St. Louis for another run to the NLCS. In all, he posted a 3.90 ERA in 809 innings for the chief rival of the club which originally drafted and traded him.
Following his strong run with the Cards, Lohse inked a three-year, $33MM deal with the Brewers, remaining in the NL Central and again serving as a thorn in the side to two former organizations — at least for the first two years of his deal. Lohse signed late in Spring Training in 2013 but proved to be well worth the investment when he tossed 397 innings of 3.45 ERA ball for the Brewers in the first two seasons of his deal. He stumbled in the final season of that contract, however, losing his rotation spot and finishing the year in a bullpen as he limped to the finish line with a 5.85 ERA. Lohse threw just 9 1/3 innings in the Majors after that point — all coming with the 2016 Rangers.
Lohse never made an All-Star team and only received Cy Young votes once in his career — a seventh-place finish in 2012 — but will still go down as one of the best 29th-round picks in history (even if Ken Griffey Sr. can probably lay claim to the top spot). Few players selected that late in the draft approach the type of career that Lohse had. At a point in the draft when most players selected are organizational filler, he forged a 16-year playing career that saw him post a 147-143 record with a 4.40 ERA, 1615 strikeouts, 12 complete games and even nine shutouts over the life of 2531 2/3 Major League innings. Lohse earned more than $89MM in a career that was valued by Baseball-Reference at 19.6 wins above replacement and at 26.3 wins above replacement by Fangraphs. Best of luck to Lohse in his post-playing days.
Well…..bye
Completely unrelated, but does anybody else see “sponsor” as an article in the app? It’s always the second listed article, but it’s completely blank and redirects to the 3rd article?
Yeah, its just an ad thats not really there.
Yes. It looks like a black space with the word “sponsor” in small white lettering. It works as an additional link to the story directly below however. Using the app, just to be clear.
Damn, Rick Aguilera is not a name I hear too often in connection with current players.
Why is there such a difference between fangraphs and baseball reference?
B-R uses ERA and Fangraphs doesn’t; they use peripherals (BB/9, K/9, etc) but not ERA.
BR uses RA, not ERA, to calculate WAR
FG uses FIP- to calculate WAR.
89 million (yeah yeah, taxes and expenses aside) bucks… not bad at all for a 29th rounder.
Yep 89 million, minus taxes, is still north of 60 million. I’d take it! He was a good, underrated pitcher. Never a star, certainly never a stud, but a solid #3-4 type who ate innings and absorbed punishment at times to rest a bullpen.
I’ve done this a couple of times now, but I’ve surprised myself a bit when looking at Lohse’s career and seeing that he ran up a 3.28 ERA in 800 innings over four years with the Cardinals and Brewers from 2011-14. He had a nice run in his early/mid-30s where he just stopped walking anyone and also wasn’t giving up home runs.
Lohse had a real nice career, especially when considering where he was drafted.
Absolutely. HOF? Of course not… but still a career I’d give body parts for? In a heartbeat.
Lol on the royals released Kyle Lohse one I wrote asking to change the photo used on lohse news from his brewers days because he’s not our mistake anymore. Thanks for listening writers!
They didn’t listen, that photo is still at the top of the other article.
I will take the two years we had of him. The last was rough.
I didn’t see that comment — just felt that for his retirement, a picture from his best season and with the team he’ll be most remembered as a part of felt more appropriate.
And I wouldn’t call Lohse a mistake for Milwaukee by any means. He was worth every penny of that deal based on the first two years of the contract.
No matter how many times you comment that Lohse was a mistake for the Brewers isn’t it going to make it a true statement. Look at his numbers the first two years of his contract. He was worth every penny. Garza and Suppan were mistakes. Lohse was not.
Every time a player near my age retires it makes me somewhat reflective. One day soon, everyone in MLB will be younger than me.
On a side note, hang in there Bartolo!
Also, RA Dickey, have you thought about a bullpen job?
You felt that too? Just wait untill the U.S. President is younger than you! Sad feeling…..
Just a readability point:
“That, apparently, was enough to set the 39-year-old’s mind at east as he rides off into the sunset following a long and successful playing career.”
Should be “ease” instead of “east”. Riding into the sunset usually takes place in the “west”… 😉
Thanks spellcheck, you got what you paid for.
If he came up today he’d be the kind of pitcher that would be constantly criticized because no one would want to pay him nor give up a decent prospect or two for him. But he’s a guy who you need to win. Congrats on a great career.
19 career WAR gets you 90 mill, damn.