Former Philadelphia Phillies Brad Lidge clarifies retirement decision-MLB Update
Brad Lidge has explained reasons behind his retirement from the Major League Baseball.
He has pointed out that his fastball lost effectiveness over the last few years and that made him call time.
While recalling special memories of his major league expedition, he has discussed the World Series winning save for the Philadelphia Phillies back in 2008.
Lidge was highly successful as reliever for the Phillies. Success enjoyed by Philadelphia in the last half a decade before 2012 has seen him play an important role in it.
As a late innings reliever, he ensured saves for the team time-and-again during important games.
He played the last season with the Washington Nationals.
Though he remained injured for the large part of it, he could not impress much on return.
Initially the Nationals included him on the roster as set-up reliever but later he was assigned the responsibility of closing the games.
Lidge struggled to help the Nationals through crucial stages of the games as he leaked runs and could not ensure saves.
For the same reason, he was removed from the roster by Washington after his presence in the bullpen proved counterproductive.
Lidge has talked about his fastball. He is of the view that the decline in his velocity was the decisive factor behind the decision of retirement by him.
“I had surgery for a torn abdomen [on May 1]. I came back from that and really had lost even more velocity [on my fastball]. That was my ninth surgery. I started to get diminishing returns. I hadn't pitched a full season in three years. We weren't really
getting any strong offers at all to finish the season [with another team]. I realized there wasn't going to be any kind of guarantee this year, either. I'm another year older, another surgery, and my fastball just isn't the same as it was a few years back,”
Lidge said.
Furthermore, Lidge has revealed that none of the clubs was interested in giving him opportunities to throw throughout the upcoming season.
That also discouraged him and eventually resulted in his retirement.
Down the line, Lidge can join some of the clubs for doing the coaching job.
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