Roy Halladay to sign one day contract with Toronto Blue Jays, will announce retirement

Roy Halladay entered free agency facing plenty of question marks, about both the health of his right shoulder and where he could potentially land for the 2014 season. The Toronto Blue Jays have announced a press conference for early this afternoon at which time they’ll announce the signing of Halladay to a one day contract. The 16 year veteran spent the first 12 seasons of his career with the organization and will reportedly announce his retirement, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman.

Halladay appeared in 416 games and threw 2,749.1 IP over the course of his career, posting a 203-105 record with a 3.38 ERA. Between 2002 and 2011 he appeared in 8 All Star Games and finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young Award voting seven times, winning the award in 2003 with Toronto and 2010 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Limited to just 13 starts this past season, Halladay struggled to a 4-5 mark and 6.82 ERA over 62 IP. It was only the second time in his career that he’d posted an ERA higher than 4.50, but much of the struggles were attributed to shoulder problems that would keep him out for a significant stretch of the season and have persisted since midway through 2012. Even when “healthy” he was still seeing diminished velocity, helping influence a career worst 1.7 HR/9. There was a vesting option that could have kept him in Philadelphia for one more season, but there was no way he’d pitch enough to trigger once he landed on the disabled list in May.

Assuming his health and if he were interested in pitching in 2014 there is no doubt that Halladay would have attracted some interest on the open market. Even at 36 he’d serve as a veteran mentor for nearly any organization in need of an arm. Instead he’ll retire as one of the top right-handers of his generation.