Orange County Register: Ex-Angel infielder McDonald, 40, announces retirement

[AngelsWin.com]

John McDonald, who made a 16-year major league career out of being a defensive whiz and a positive clubhouse influence, retired Wednesday, months after concluding a disappointing season with the Angels.McDonald, 40, hit .171 in 91 plate appearances...

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[disarcina]

John McDonald came into 2014 ST as a non-roster invitee and we had a few other infield guys invited as well.

 

I thought, why invite these guys ? Especially the 38/39 year old McDonald......at the time we still had slick fielding Romine as a back up SS -- a guy whose D I really liked even if he couldn't hit much.

 

We traded Romine in that deal to Detroit which turned out good for both sides because Romine actually got more playing time there than he would have gotten in Anaheim.

 

But McDonald? Why this guy? Well - he worked his tail off in ST, displayed stellar D and on field as well as club house leadership......could do the little things well, like move runners along and seemed to have natural instincts on defense at all infield positions........

 

He made the team and more than that -- did everything the Halos asked of him - had a pretty good first half of the season -- even surpassing low expectations at the plate -- I got to the point where I thought McDonald should replace Freese at 3B on D no later than the 7th inning of every game........he sort of tailed off at the end of the season and the Halos acquired Beckham in a trade deadline deal that reduced McDonald's playing time down the stretch (and, to be fair, McDonald's offense had fallen off and he was pretty much strictly a D replacement guy by then).

 

But McDonald did all the little things, was said to be a great teammate, a great clubhouse guy,

 

I'd love to see him instructing infielders in ST and then perhaps being kept on for roving infielder instructor role for A and AA prospects. Perhaps something that would allow him to stick close to home (Arizona? Scottsdale/ Phoenix/Tempe) with reduced travel.

 

I really became a John McDonald fan last year. I wish him the best.

[Jeff Fletcher]

 

I'd love to see him instructing infielders in ST and then perhaps being kept on for roving infielder instructor role for A and AA prospects. Perhaps something that would allow him to stick close to home (Arizona? Scottsdale/ Phoenix/Tempe) with reduced travel.

 

He lives in Connecticut