Color me sad to see him go. (Plus if there's a thread for Mussina retiring, then there darn better be one for the greatest pitcher of this generation!)

Maddux to retire with 355 wins

Greg Maddux has thrown his last pitch.

The four-time Cy Young winner will announce his retirement Monday at the baseball winter meetings in Las Vegas.

Maddux, who turns 43 in April, ranks eighth on the career wins list with 355. He went 8-13 with a 4.22 ERA last season with the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Maddux made three relief appearances in the playoffs for the Dodgers this year -- he had an 0.00 ERA over four innings -- and then filed for free agency amid speculation he would retire.

On Friday, confirmation came from the office of Maddux's agent, Scott Boras. Maddux, his family and Boras will hold a news conference at the hotel where the meetings are being held to announce one of baseball's greatest pitchers is finished.

Last month, Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti left open the possibility that Maddux would return for a 24th season in the majors.

"I told Scott we'd love to have him back, and we're not going to be closing the door on Greg Maddux anytime soon," Colletti said at the time. "I've known him for a long, long time. I respect who he is and admire him for what he's done. I know the impact he has on a club and on a franchise."

Maddux finished one win ahead of Roger Clemens on the career victory list. Overall, "Mad Dog" was 355-227 with a 3.16 ERA, and is considered a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible after five years.

Noted for impeccable control, Maddux won Cy Young Awards from 1992-95 and earned a record 18 Gold Gloves while with the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta, Dodgers and Padres.

Maddux was an eight-time All-Star and won at least 13 games in 20 straight seasons, a streak that ended this year.

The last-place Padres traded Maddux to the Dodgers on Aug. 19 for two minor leaguers to be named or cash, and went 2-4 in seven starts for Los Angeles. His last start for the NL West champions was a gem -- he beat San Francisco, giving up one run and two hits in six innings.

"He's remarkable," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said after the 2-1 victory. "I've watched and admired him from across the field. Tonight was, you could say, vintage."

Said Maddux following the win: "In all honesty, I have felt this game has given me more than I ever thought it would in the first place. I just wanted to have a good game. I haven't had many since I got here."

While Maddux finished on the West Coast, he will always be associated with top teams in Atlanta. Along with fellow 300-game winner Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, Maddux helped the Braves win division titles for more than a decade, and they won their lone World Series championship there in 1995.

Glavine and Smoltz are both in their 40s and coming off arm operations, and their futures are in doubt. Longtime teammates on the field and golfing buddies away from the field, there has long been talk that Atlanta's Big Three might someday be reunited -- with election to the Hall on the very same day.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

One of my all-time favorites.

Greatest trifecta ever?

My favorite for sure. Maddux is probably my favorite pitcher, it's too bad he's retiring. He had a great career and I really enjoyed watching him with the Braves.

First ballot HOFer, easily.

go look at the 10-year period dating 1992-2002, the guy was utterly ridiculous.

Probably my 2nd favorite pitcher ever. I once remember him throwing a 70 pitch complete game. Unreal.

He was my favorite.

This picture is hanging at Turner Field. I remember seeing it when I was 15 and thinking how I wanted a framed copy of it. I wonder if I can buy it anywhere.

Hello Captain Obvious!

Fine, I'll make a slightly bolder prediction.

98%+ will vote him in first ballot.

First Ballot, hell, if everyone decided to just let him now, he's the one who'd deserve it

I've always really dug the guy, despite him being primarily on the Braves the bulk of his career (them being an arch rival of this Phillies fan).

And I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo glad he finished out ABOVE Cheater Clemens on the all time wins list, even if it was just by one win. Hell it's fitting that it was just by a single win.

edit: oh and you're probably right about the 98% voting him in -- it seems like there always winds up being one vote who dissents to make a statement that nobody should be given the honor of going in 1st ballot

Yeah I know there's one tool like that. He really deserves 100%.

I can't imagine the money that's about to be wagered and the shit talk on the golf course between him Glavine and Smoltz.

Well done Mad Dog.

It's too bad he (not surprisingly) announced the retirement in a low key way, on a Friday before a huge weekend of college football. ESPN really needs to spend some time on Maddux and show his clips. Lord knows they would be if it was Clemens.

When I see highlights of him in his prime, it really makes me realize how special he was. Just watching his pitches dart all over the zone is really a thing of beauty. He had scary good control.

You can't really appreciate Maddux with highlights. He wasn't flashy. I don't think he could ever throw a ball 95, and his curve ball was not a knee-breaker. To appreciate him, you have to watch him pitch a complete game (a 70 pitch one, for example), and see that he threw EVERY pitch where it either broke slightly out or slightly in on the edges of the plate. I've never seen control like he had when he was in his prime. His pitches were practically unhitable, and he appeared to be able to outthink every hitter he faced. If you were looking for A, he would throw you B, every single time. Any pitch that was hitable, was a weak out. I can remember being just mesmerized by watching him pitch a game. He must have given hitter nightmares, quite literally.

It makes me sad that if this was Clemens, not only would it be the lead story, probably complete with half hour clip shows out of every hour of Sportscenter, but this thread would be about 8 pages right now.

just for fun i was looking at consecutive runs and park-adjusted ERA, here's how maddux and a few other contemporary pitchers stack up, with their respective short seasons excluded.

greg maddux (11 seasons; from 88-92 he was 114, 128, 119 and 115, after 02 he really came back down to earth and hovered near 100):

1992: 166
1993: 171
1994: 271
1995: 262
1996: 162
1997: 189
1998: 187
1999: 125
2000: 153
2001: 146
2002: 159

average: 181

pedro martinez (his only 9 full seasons)

1996: 117
1997: 219
1998: 163
1999: 243
2000: 291
2001: 189 in 116 innings
2002: 202
2003: 210
2004: 125
2005: 145

average: 190.5

roger clemens (12 seasons; he posted a 130 and 128 in NY in 2000, but his houston years -- he posted 146, 226, 193 in 04-05-06 -- should probably be left out for drug speculation).

1986: 169
1987: 154
1989: 141
1990: 132
1991: 213
1992: 164
1993: 104
1994: 177
1995: 116 in 140 innings
1996: 139
1997: 221
1998: 174

average: 159

randy johnson (10 seasons; he's got two short years here i'll exclude, and i'm going to take the average of seattle and houston)

1993: 136
1994: 154
1995: 192
1996: 135 in only 61 IP
1997: 196
1998: 135 total between seattle (106) and houston (321)
1999: 186
2000: 181
2001: 188
2002: 197
2003: 110 in 114 innings
2004: 177

average: 174

johan santana, for sake of a newer guy (5 seasons)

2004: 182
2005: 155
2006: 161
2007: 130
2008: 166

average: 159

also, there's this:

Support-Neutral Wins (SNW) and Support-Neutral Losses (SNL) are the expected number of wins and losses a pitcher's starts would produce given league average support from his offense and bullpen.

With that background, here are the 10 best starting pitchers of the 1990s:

1. Greg Maddux 172.8-79.6 = .685
2. Roger Clemens 158.9-78.1 = .670
3. Randy Johnson 141.3-79.3 = .641

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... icleid=416