Maddux leaning toward retirement, Boras says
DANA POINT, Calif. – Greg Maddux, who won 355 games and four Cy Young Awards in a 23-year career, is very close to retiring, his agent, Scott Boras, said Monday night.
“He hasn't made a final decision,” Boras said on the first day of baseball's general managers' meetings. “I'd say as it looks now it's doubtful that he'll play.”
Boras said he was with Maddux at a charity event last week and that Maddux told him that he was more likely to spend next season with his family than pitching.
Maddux, who will be 43 in April, was 8-13 with a 4.22 ERA for the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008. He pitched three times in the postseason for the Dodgers, all in relief, and was effective.
“As it stands right now,” Boras said, “I would say he's not going to play.”
Maddux was the game's active leader in wins and is eighth all-time, one victory ahead of Roger Clemens. Along with John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, he was a critical element in the Atlanta Braves' unprecedented run of division titles. If Maddux does retire, as Boras expects, baseball's active wins leader would be Glavine, with 305.
Maddux, a certain Hall of Famer, won 17 Gold Glove awards, four ERA titles and led the National League in wins three times. Lacking the big, put-away fastball, he won with supreme command and intelligence. Even in his final seasons, when his fastball barely reached the mid-80s, Maddux was unafraid of the strike zone, in 2008 leading the NL in fewest walks per nine innings for the ninth time.
Maddux's final start was Sept. 27 in San Francisco. He threw 47 pitches in six innings, allowing a run on two hits on no walks.
