Michael Cuddyer Retires From Baseball

Brett Davis / USA TODAY Sports

Mets' Cuddyer announces retirement after 15 MLB seasons - Sometime after surgery in early November to repair a core muscle injury, Michael Cuddyer realized his body was not up to a 19th season of professional baseball.

Following eight trips to the disabled list in four years caused by a strained oblique muscle, an inflamed cervical disk in his neck, a broken shoulder socket, a thigh strain and knee inflammation, it was time to stop.

Michael Cuddyer 

✔@mcuddy23

I played baseball the way I did because I knew one day it would be over http://www.theplayerstribune.com/michael-cuddyer-retirement/ …

8:49 PM - 12 Dec 2015

 The Players' Tribune

Play Hard and Dream Big | By Michael Cuddyer

In his retirement from baseball, Mets outfielder Michael Cuddyer remembers the grind and glory of his 15-year Major League career.

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"It wasn't just the DL stints. It's the aches and pains that every single player goes through over the course of 162 games. They started to get harder to get harder to come back from. They started to get tougher to rehab," he said Saturday.

"Mentally, that just wore down. I wouldn't say that the core surgery sent me over the edge or anything like that, but it was just all of them took its toll."

A two-time All-Star and the 2013 NL batting champion with Colorado, Cuddyer announced his retirement Saturday. His two-year, $21.5 million contract with the Mets called for a $12.5 million salary next season. It is unclear how much of that he will receive and whether his decision will impact New York's roster decisions -- such as not attempting to re-sign free agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

"In handling this situation, the Mets were first class all the way," Cuddyer said. "This is obviously a unique situation that nobody foresaw coming."

Cuddyer, who turns 37 in March, hit .259 with 10 homers and 41 RBI in 408 plate appearances this year, losing the left-field job to Michael Conforto by the time the Mets reached the postseason. Cuddyer made his first World Series appearance, striking out in all three of his at-bats.