Denard Span may have already sung the swan song
After sitting out the entire 2019 season, the prolonged lockdown of 2020 is making Denard Span question whether he’ll ever play again.
He was a first-round pick of the Minnesota Twins and he hung around the league eleven years. He led the league in triples twice and hit a respectable .281 over his career. Yet, at age 36 we may have seen the last of Denard Span in a baseball uniform.
The lockdown, due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent stalemate between the baseball owners and the player’s association has left several players wondering about their futures.
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Mark Reynolds and Steve Pearce are two players who have decided to hang up the cleats rather than wait out the return of baseball, and Denard Span could be next.
In an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune, Span mentioned he had been getting ready for the 2020 season and had garnered some interest in the way of a minor league contract or two, though decided to wait for a guaranteed offer.
Span has proven himself over the course of his career, as a guy who can hit for average and play solid defense. The speed is not there anymore, though the veteran presence is.
As a member of the Washington Nationals, Denard Span was an absolute beast!
Washington Nationals fans remember him from his three years with the team in which he hit a combined .292 and led the league with 184 hits in 2014. Span was a table-setter at the top of the lineup and helped propel the Nationals to a division title, before making a first-round exit at the hands of the San Francisco Giants.
Season-ending hip surgery ended his 2015 after just 61 games, an injury that ultimately ended his tenure in Washington as well.
He was scooped up by the Giants and later played for the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners before sitting out the 2019 season.
With the $58M he earned throughout his playing career Span is in no hurry to settle on a minor league contract or play independent ball just for the sake of playing. He has a wife and two kids and will be well served with some quality family time.
THREE outfielders that need to get it together. dark. Next
With his age and rustiness, I don’t think Span is going to get the guaranteed major league job he desires. If this is a career, thanks for the memories D-Span.