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Mark DeRosa to Retire

By Scott C.
Otto Greule Jr

There isn't a whole lot to this story as of yet, but Alex Anthopoulos has reportedly told Shi Davidi that Mark DeRosa will retire instead of playing for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014. The team picked up DeRosa's $750,000 option earlier this off-season with the intention of him once again serving as a mentor to Brett Lawrie, but it looks like that won't take place. Shi Davidi was the first to break the news:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>AA says Mark DeRosa is retiring</p>&mdash; Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShiDavidi/statuses/400372781457866752">November 12, 2013</a></blockquote>

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DeRosa appeared in 88 games with the Blue Jays in 2013 hitting .235/.326/.407 with seven home runs. He was a pleasant surprise for the team as he helped calm down Brett Lawrie and by all accounts seemed to be the perfect back-up infielder. He finishes his career playing for eight teams including the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers and has a World Series ring from his time with the San Francisco Giants.

The hole left by DeRosa in the Blue Jays team is admittedly not very big, but how big of an impact he had on the younger players on the team is impossible to quantify. It's likely that Alex Anthopoulos will look for another utility infielder this off-season unless Ryan Goins is ready to make the step up to the major leagues at the beginning of next year.

As Minor Leaguer mentioned earlier this morning, DeRosa was rumoured as a possible replacement to Cubs' radio analyst Keith Moreland. The news came after DeRosa impressed during his time on TBS during the MLB playoffs as well as his work on the MLB Network.

A video that will likely outlive the memories of his actual play in Toronto is this appearance on Intentional Talk with another fan favourite in Munenori Kawasaki:

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Thanks for the memories and veteran presents Mark!

UPDATE (Minor Leaguer)

Shi Davidi reports that Mark DeRosa will be joining MLB Network as a studio analyst, which might mean he's out of the running for the WGN job.

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