Jay Gibbons Announces Retirement

Outfielder/first baseman Jay Gibbons has announced his retirement, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

#Brewers announce that OF Jay Gibbons has retired. Played at AA and AAA levels in their farm system.

— Tom (@Haudricourt) July 9, 2012

Prior to his retirement, Gibbons had spent the season with the Milwaukee Brewers, playing for the club’s Double- and Triple-A affiliates.

Gibbons was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1998 MLB Draft, but wound up making his major league debut with the Baltimore Orioles after they selected him in the Rule 5 Draft.

Gibbons posted impressive numbers as he made his way through the Blue Jays minor league system, and the slugger got his first shot with the Orioles in 2001. Over his first three seasons with the Birds, Gibbons maintained an OPS north of .780, hitting 15, 28 and 23 home runs.

His production waned during the 2007 season, and after several sources came out connecting Gibbons to performance-enhancing drugs, he was cited in the Mitchell Report in December of ’07. Gibbons went on to perform so poorly the next spring that Baltimore decided to cut ties with him even though he was owed almost $12 million over the final two years of his contract.

Gibbons bounced around the minors for the next few seasons, not appearing at the major league level again until 2010. He appeared in 142 games with the Dodgers from 2010-11, performing particularly well during his limited opportunities in ‘10.

Over his nine-year career, Gibbons, 35, compiled 166 doubles, 127 home runs and 427 RBIs. He finished with a career line of .260/.315/.453.