Former San Francisco Giants Fan Favorite Rumored to Be Eyeing Retirement

Based on a new report, it sounds like one of the San Francisco Giants past stars is nearing retirement in the near future.

Jul 5, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; San Francisco Giants infielder Evan Longoria against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

During the offseason ahead of the 2018 campaign, the San Francisco Giants made a splash when they acquire Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade that sent out four players to get the star to The Bay.

He was brought in to elevate their roster after he won his third Gold Glove award at third base prior to them making this deal.

Unfortunately, his first year was disappointing when he had his career-low in home runs (16) and RBI (54). But after he fractured his hand in mid-June of that season, he came back 11 days after he was placed on the injured list instead of missing the projected 6-8 weeks he would have needed with surgery.

Despite the deficient on-field performance, Longoria started to become a fan favorite.

That continued throughout his tenure even though he was clearly not the same player who had won the Rooke of the Year award, three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger with the Rays.

When the veteran's club option was declined by the Giants after the 2022 season, he became a free agent for the first time and signed with their divisional foe Arizona Diamondbacks.

Longoria was a key figure within that clubhouse, helping lead a group of young players to the World Series along with his slash line of .223/.295/.422, 11 homers and 28 RBI across his 74 games. But, the writing was on the wall that his career was coming to an end when he hit free agency once again and wasn't picked up by anybody.

The 38-year-old has now acknowledged his baseball mortality, telling Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times he's not officially retired, but is likely done playing ever again.

"I waited long enough to know that I was done. There were a couple of years toward the end of my career where I was questioning it internally, and I would go back and forth ... And I just wanted to leave the game and play the game with a good taste in my mouth. I just felt like the last couple years it was getting closer and closer," Longoria said.

He adds that the thing keeping him from calling it a career is that he's been too "lazy" to file the paperwork, but he also left open the potential for a return.

"One of the only things I haven't accomplished is winning a World Series. So if you said I would go hit .080 for the rest of the season, but the team would win the World Series, then I'd go do it. But that's probably about the only thing I'd want to do," he said.

When Longoria does step aside, it will have been fantastic 16 years in the MLB with 1,930 hits, 342 RBI and 1,159 total RBI.