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Report: Boone has flipped his last bat

According to MetsBlog, Bret Boone announced his retirement from baseball during an impromptu dugout press conference today. Boone was vying for the starting job at second base, competing against Kaz Matsui, Anderson Hernandez and Jeff Keppinger.

Boone was one of the top two-sackers in the game from 2001-2003, batting a ridiculous .331/.372/.578 in 2001. He was a low-risk minor league signing for the Mets this offseason, and his retirement does little to affect the competition amongst the other three players.

Matsui is likely the frontrunner at this point, and I'd peg him at 3:2 odds to win the job. Hernandez has a shot if he plays really well in spring training, and Keppinger is a longshot at best.

YEAR TEAM         AGE  R    H   2B  3B  HR   RBI  BB   SO   SB   CS   AVG   SLG   OBA   OPS
2001 Mariners     32  118  206  37   3  37   141   40  110    5   5  .331  .578  .372  .950 
2002 Mariners     33   88  169  34   3  24   107   53  102   12   5  .278  .462  .339  .801 
2003 Mariners     34  111  183  35   5  35   117   68  125   16   3  .294  .535  .366  .902 
(Stats generated using Lee Sinins' Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia).