Retire or Run It Back for Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, More Aging MLB Stars
The MLB offseason brings with it a new wave of free agency and trade shuffling, but it's also the time each year when a handful of aging stars decide to hang up their spikes and call it a career.
Earlier this week, longtime Chicago Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks announced his retirement, and he won't be the only player who makes that decision in the coming weeks and months.
It is also sometimes out of a player's control, with Anthony Rizzo being a prime example last winter, as he initially intended to play in 2025, but did not find a contract or landing spot to his liking and ultimately decided to retire.
Ahead, we've highlighted 10 free agents who could be weighing that retirement decision right now, and we've given our take on whether they should in fact retire, or if they should run it back for another year in 2026.
1B Paul Goldschmidt
1 of 10
Age: 38
Stats: 534 PA, 104 OPS-plus, .274/.328/.403, 42 XBH (10 HR), 45 RBI
WAR: 1.2
Paul Goldschmidt hit .338/.394/.495 over the first two months of the 2025 season after signing a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Yankees during the offseason, but his production dropped significantly in the months that followed.
He hit just .226/.277/.333 with four home runs in 302 plate appearances the rest of the way, and his batted-ball metrics displayed decline across the board in his quality of contact.
Verdict: Run It Back
Goldschmidt is going to have to take a pay cut, and he might also need to accept more of a platoon role after hitting much better against lefties (168 PA, .336 BA, .981 OPS) than righties (366 PA, .247 BA, .619 OPS), but he is still a solid contributor and one who is still chasing his first World Series ring.
RP Kenley Jansen
2 of 10
Age: 38
Stats: 62 G, 29/30 SV, 2.59 ERA (3.98 FIP), 57 K, 59.0 IP
WAR: 2.4
With 476 career saves, good for fourth on the all-time list, Kenley Jansen has already built a compelling Hall of Fame case, and he also has a World Series ring from the 2020 Dodgers.
He has pitched for the Braves, Red Sox and Angels since leaving the Dodgers, and while he logged a career-low 24.4 percent strikeout rate in 2025, he still pitched to a 1.48 ERA and 0.62 WHIP in 24 appearances after the All-Star break while going a near-perfect 29-of-30 on save chances for the year.
Verdict: Run It Back
Aside from the fact that he has already made it clear he is chasing 500 career saves, Jansen is still pitching at a high enough level to be a useful late-inning option in a contender's bullpen or a closer on a second-tier team.
RP Craig Kimbrel
3 of 10
Age: 37
Stats: 14 G, 2 HLD, 2.25 ERA (4.22 FIP), 17 K, 12.0 IP
WAR: 0.4
Craig Kimbrel spent time with the Braves, Rangers and Astros organizations in 2025, making one appearance for Atlanta, spending two months with the Triple-A affiliate in Texas and finally joining the big league bullpen in Houston for the stretch run.
His 2.25 ERA over 14 appearances last season was solid, but it's accompanied by a less encouraging 4.22 FIP and a 1.42 WHIP as he allowed 10 hits and seven walks in 12 innings.
Verdict: Retire
Aside from the aforementioned regression indicators, there is also the matter of his diminished stuff. He was still averaging 95.8 mph with his fastball as recently as 2023, but that was down to 93.5 mph this year. His knuckle curve also generated a middling 25.0 percent whiff rate, after that routinely sat north of 40 percent in his prime.
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OF Starling Marte
4 of 10
Age: 37
Stats: 329 PA, 111 OPS-plus, .270/.335/.410, 23 XBH (9 HR), 34 RBI
WAR: 1.0
For anyone rolling their eyes at the idea of calling Starling Marte a star, it's easy to forget that during his peak with the Pirates, he rattled off four straight 4-WAR seasons while winning a pair of Gold Glove Awards and wreaking havoc on the bases.
All of that helped earn him the four-year, $78 million deal he signed with the Mets, and while he was an All-Star his first season with the team in 2022, he logged just 1.0 WAR in 278 games over the final three years.
Verdict: Retire
Even before dealing with a nagging bone bruise issue in his right knee, Marte was in decline as a defender, leaving him as more or less a DH-only player at this point. He still has some playable pop, but he might not provide enough overall value to warrant a roster spot.
DH Andrew McCutchen
5 of 10
Age: 39
Stats: 551 PA, 95 OPS-plus, .239/.333/.367, 35 XBH (13 HR), 57 RBI
WAR: 0.1
After stints with the Giants, Yankees, Phillies and Brewers, Andrew McCutchen found his way back to the Pirates in 2023, returning to the city where he spent the first nine seasons of his career and won 2013 NL MVP honors.
After productive seasons in 2023 (112 OPS-plus, 12 HR, 43 RBI) and 2024 (110 OPS-plus, 20 HR, 50 RBI), he logged a career-low .367 slugging percentage in 2025, though he played in 135 games and was still one of Pittsburgh's more productive bats.
Verdict: Retire
McCutchen has eclipsed 2,000 hits, 300 home runs and 1,000 RBI in recent years, and there are no other major milestones on the horizon. He still doesn't have a ring, but he probably would not have come back to Pittsburgh in the first place if that was his No. 1 priority.
1B Carlos Santana
6 of 10
Age: 39
Stats: 474 PA, 77 OPS-plus, .219/.308/.325, 22 XBH (11 HR), 54 RBI
WAR: 1.1
Another player who might not immediately evoke the "star" moniker, Carlos Santana has put together a quietly excellent 16-year career, tallying 335 home runs, 1,136 RBI and 39.3 WAR.
He was still a 2.4-WAR player in 2024, slugging 23 home runs and winning a Gold Glove Award for the Minnesota Twins. He managed to reel in a one-year, $12 million deal from the Guardians last offseason, but he was released on Aug. 19 and spent the final month on the Cubs' bench.
Verdict: Retire
There is just no ignoring his decline in hard-hit rate (39.9 to 37.8 percent), average exit velocity (89.2 to 87.6 mph), expected batting average (.246 to .217) and expected slugging percentage (.416 to .336).
SP Max Scherzer
7 of 10
Age: 41
Stats: 17 GS, 5.19 ERA (4.99 FIP), 1.29 WHIP, 82 K, 85.0 IP
WAR: 0.2
Max Scherzer was still pitching at a frontline level in 2023, when he finished 13-6 with a 3.77 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 174 strikeouts in 152.2 innings, but injuries slowed him down the stretch that year and have been a consistent issue in the years since.
After making just nine starts and pitching 43.1 innings in 2024, he still managed to secure a one-year, $15.5 million deal from the Blue Jays. He again spent much of the year on the sidelines, this time with a right thumb issue, but he returned in time to make three starts in the postseason.
Verdict: Retire
Scherzer could almost certainly gut out another year or two as a back-of-the-rotation starter, but he's pitching more on grit than stuff at this point, and the 19 home runs allowed in 85 innings speak volumes. He has three Cy Young Awards, two World Series rings and a sure-fire Hall of Fame case. He might as well join Clayton Kershaw in the 2031 Cooperstown class.
SP Marcus Stroman
8 of 10
Age: 34
Stats: 9 GS, 6.23 ERA (5.19 FIP), 1.54 WHIP, 26 K, 39.0 IP
WAR: -0.3
Marcus Stroman was an All-Star with the Cubs in 2023 before opting out of the final year of his contract with the North Siders that winter and eventually signing a two-year, $37 million deal with the Yankees.
After pitching to a 4.31 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 154.2 innings in 2024, he was expected to start last season in the bullpen before a wave of injuries kept him in the Opening Day rotation. He ended up making three starts before a knee issue landed him on the injured list, then returned in June for six more starts before he was released on August 1 and spent the rest of the season without a team.
Verdict: Run It Back
Remember when Johnny Cueto was more or less written off following his time with the Giants, only to resurface with a 3.35 ERA in 158.1 innings with the White Sox in 2022? That feels like the type of comeback Stroman could make, assuming he is similarly willing to accept a minor league deal and earn his spot in a rebuilding team's rotation.
1B Justin Turner
9 of 10
Age: 40
Stats: 191 PA, 75 OPS-plus, .219/.288/.314, 10 XBH (3 HR), 18 RBI
WAR: -0.1
The Cubs inked Justin Turner to a one-year, $6 million deal last offseason to serve as a right-handed hitting platoon partner for Michael Busch at first base and a veteran presence in the clubhouse.
He lived up to his end of the bargain, hitting .276/.330/.429 in 109 plate appearances against lefties and going 7-for-29 with two home runs as a pinch-hitter while fitting in nicely as a veteran voice.
Verdict: Run It Back
Turner has already indicated he plans to play in 2026, and given last year's production, there is no reason he can't fill a similar role as a short-side platoon option at first base or designated hitter.
SP Justin Verlander
10 of 10
Age: 42
Stats: 29 GS, 3.85 ERA (3.85 FIP), 1.36 WHIP, 137 K, 152.0 IP
WAR: 1.2
It looked like Justin Verlander might be at the end of the line when he struggled to a 5.48 ERA in 90.1 innings during the 2024 season and found himself left off the Astros' playoff roster.
He still landed a one-year, $15 million deal from the Giants, and after a rocky start, he settled in nicely with his new club as the season unfolded. Over his final seven starts, he posted a 1.96 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 38 strikeouts in 41.1 innings, and he finished with 12 quality starts on the year.
Verdict: Run It Back
Verlander has already made it clear he wants to pitch in 2026, and there should be no shortage of interest after the way he was throwing the ball down the stretch. He will likely be limited to one-year deals at this point in his career, but he had enough left in the tank last year to be a solid No. 4 starter on a contender with the potential to pitch more like a No. 3.
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