Longtime major league pitcher Jesse Chavez has retired
Jesse Chavez, 41 year old righthanded pitcher and multi-time member of the Texas Rangers, has announced his retirement.
Chavez spent 18 seasons in the majors — a rather remarkable feat for a guy who was taken in the 42nd round of the 2002 MLB Draft by Your Texas Rangers, who never really was on the prospect map, and who, through his age 28 season in 2012, had a career major league ERA of 5.99 in 177 innings for five different clubs.
None of those clubs from 2008-12 were the Texas Rangers — they traded him in the summer of 2006 to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Kip Wells. He did pitch for the Rangers in 2018, was traded that summer to the Cubs, then returned to the Rangers for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He was also in camp this spring with the Rangers, though he did not make the club, and ended up instead with the Atlanta Braves, for whom he has had numerous stints.
Chavez ends his career with a 51-66 record and a 4.27 ERA, good for a 98 ERA+, in 1142 innings. He pitched for nine clubs, which undersells how much transactional activity he had.
Here is his Transactions page from Baseball Reference:
Transactions
June 5, 2001: Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 39th round of the 2001 amateur draft, but did not sign.
June 4, 2002: Drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 42nd round of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed May 17, 2003.
July 31, 2006: Traded by the Texas Rangers to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Kip Wells.
November 3, 2009: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Tampa Bay Rays for Akinori Iwamura.
December 11, 2009: Traded by the Tampa Bay Rays to the Atlanta Braves for Rafael Soriano.
July 31, 2010: Traded by the Atlanta Braves with Grégor Blanco and Tim Collins to the Kansas City Royals for Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth.
October 21, 2011: Selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Kansas City Royals.
August 24, 2012: Purchased by the Oakland Athletics from the Toronto Blue Jays.
November 20, 2015: Traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays for Liam Hendriks.
August 1, 2016: Traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Bolsinger.
November 3, 2016: Granted Free Agency.
November 14, 2016: Signed as a Free Agent with the Los Angeles Angels.
November 2, 2017: Granted Free Agency.
February 23, 2018: Signed as a Free Agent with the Texas Rangers.
July 19, 2018: Traded by the Texas Rangers to the Chicago Cubs for Tyler Thomas (minors).
October 29, 2018: Granted Free Agency.
November 30, 2018: Signed as a Free Agent with the Texas Rangers.
October 28, 2020: Granted Free Agency.
February 25, 2021: Signed as a Free Agent with the Los Angeles Angels.
March 25, 2021: Released by the Los Angeles Angels.
April 17, 2021: Signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.
November 3, 2021: Granted Free Agency.
March 14, 2022: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago Cubs.
April 21, 2022: Traded by the Chicago Cubs with cash to the Atlanta Braves for Sean Newcomb.
August 2, 2022: Traded by the Atlanta Braves with Tucker Davidson to the Los Angeles Angels for Raisel Iglesias.
August 29, 2022: Released by the Los Angeles Angels.
August 30, 2022: Selected off waivers by the Atlanta Braves from the Los Angeles Angels.
November 6, 2022: Granted Free Agency.
November 12, 2022: Signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.
November 2, 2023: Granted Free Agency.
February 16, 2024: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago White Sox.
March 25, 2024: Signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.
October 31, 2024: Granted Free Agency.
January 27, 2025: Signed as a Free Agent with the Texas Rangers.
March 21, 2025: Released by the Texas Rangers.
March 22, 2025: Signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.
April 3, 2025: Granted Free Agency.
April 4, 2025: Signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.
April 29, 2025: Granted Free Agency.
May 1, 2025: Signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.
July 21, 2025: Granted Free Agency.
That’s amazing. Mindboggling.