Former Dodgers pitcher Matt Magill retires

Former Dodgers pitcher Matt Magill announced his retirement as a player on Thursday. Drafted by the Dodgers out of Royal High School in Simi Valley in the 31st round in 2008, Magill made the majors in Los Angeles in 2013.

After a strong debut, pitching into the seventh inning with seven strikeouts at Dodger Stadium, Magill had a rough go in his first year in the majors. In six starts he had a 6.51 ERA with more walks than strikeouts, including a nine-walk outing at Coors Field.

Magill was traded to the Reds in 2014 for outfielder Chris Heisey. The right-hander pitched parts of five seasons in the majors through 2020, for the Dodgers, Reds, Twins, and Mariners.

“I loved the challenge of competing with the best in the world,” Magill tweeted on Thursday. “I loved being a ballplayer.”

Links

• Oklahoma City Dodgers play-by-play broadcaster Alex Freedman summarized the newcomers to and departures from the Triple-A roster so far this offseason.
• Ben Clemens at FanGraphs tried to quantify the aggregate cost of additional players becoming eligible for salary arbitration, per recent proposals between MLB players and owners.
• Marc Normandin at Baseball Prospectus wrote that MLB owners are opting for a public relations strategy rather than negotiating with players.
• Evan Drellich, Stephen Nesbitt, and Cody Stavenhagen at The Athletic took a deep dive into the competitive balance tax, its history, and how it relates to this year’s labor talks.
• Veteran umpires Fieldin Culbreth, Kerwin Danley, Gerry Davis, Brian Gorman, and Joe West retired after the 2021 season. Five new umpires reached full-time major league status, announced on Friday — Ryan Additon, Sean Barber, John Libka, Ben May, and Roberto Ortiz. Ortiz is the first Puerto Rican-born umpire to join the full-time major league staff.
• The witness list in the Texas trial of former Angels PR employee Eric Kay, accused of providing the drugs that led to Tyler Skaggs’ overdose death, includes a handful of major league pitchers, including current Dodger Andrew Heaney. The Associated Press has more.
• The Triple-A season was extended from 144 to 150 games, which tacked on a week to the end of the schedule. For the Oklahoma City Dodgers, that means their season now ends on September 28, four days before the end of the major league season.