Span announces retirement

*Photo from Bleacher Report*

   Veteran OF Denard Span has announced his retirement from baseball, according to Steve Adams of MLB trade rumors. Span made his decision due to him receiving contract offers that he feels didn't meet what he thought he was worth. Span spent all of the 2019 season as a free agent after finishing 2018 in a Seattle Mariners uniform.

   Span said of his decision that "I’m a man of principles, and when those principles aren’t met, I can’t go along with it, I honestly recognize that I’m not the player that I was when I was in D.C. or when I was in Minnesota. But, I still know that I have value. I'm not a center fielder or premier player anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help a ball club win a championship or win games. I’m not the $12-million player anymore, but from what I did in 2018, that doesn’t tell me I’m worth $1 million or worth $1.5 million or worth league minimum. I got an offer for league minimum. It was just unreal."

   Span continued, saying that “I just couldn’t see myself at this point in my career giving in or compromising myself - especially where I’m at in my life, being a husband and a father, it's already hard enough to be away from my family, and now they want me to play for less than what I humbly feel I deserve. I’m not saying I’m worth $10 million. I’m saying I’m worth more than what they offered me.”

   Span's last season in the majors was 2018, in which he played for the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners. Span hit .261 with 11 homers and 58 RBI with 9 stolen bases across 137 games played in 2018. In his 11 year career, Span has a career .281 average with 71 homers and 490 RBI with 185 steals in 1,359 games. Span has suited up for the Rays, Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals, and Minnesota Twins in his career.