3 players who can follow Josh Donaldson into retirement in 2024

Rather than wait for a new contract and try and return for another year, Josh Donaldson retired, and more could follow suit. There are plenty of veteran players still available in free agency, but some of them are too close to retirement for any team to truly consider. Thus, their only option might be to do what Donaldson did and call it a career before wasting a year waiting in free agency for a call that will never come. Here are a few examples of those players.

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Three players who might retire like Josh Donaldson

3) Rich Hill

Rich Hill might have to retire this year at 44 years old

Rich Hill is the oldest player in Major League Baseball by more than three years. He is going on 44, and he hasn't been all that effective in some time. The former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher hasn't gotten much attention in free agency, so with less than a month before Opening Day, the outlook is not good.

He may not want to retire, but he might genuinely have no other option at this point. What teams will take a flyer on a 44-year-old pitcher when there are better, younger options? Not many, and that could force him to walk away.

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2) Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke doesn't want to retire. He just might have to. He's old and has not been a good pitcher in a few seasons. At this point, someone signing him to a MLB contract seems far-fetched, and there's no shame in hanging up the cleats now on what could be a Hall of Fame career. This one extra season won't do much for him, and that's just if he can even get signed. That doesn't seem likely at this stage, so he might be able to walk away now rather than wait it out.

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1) Joey Votto

Joey Votto really doesn't want to retire. The former Cincinnati Reds first baseman has expressed a desire to play and a little bit of a frustration over not being signed. At this point, aside from the remaining stars, everyone who's going to be signed has been. That doesn't bode well for Votto, but it's not all bad.

Retiring now before signing a one-year deal to sparingly play poorly for another team keeps his legacy as a lifetime Reds player in tact, and that's pretty valuable and is a unique thing now.