Andrew Miller, transformative reliever and players’ union rep, retires after 16 seasons

Andrew Miller, who spent his winter as one of the players’ union’s top representatives in helping negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the owners, announced his retirement from the major leagues after 16 seasons. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported the news and ESPN’s Jesse Rogers has confirmed it.

The 36-year-old reliever and two-time All-Star spent the past three seasons with the Cardinals and was a free agent. He appeared in 40 games in 2021 with a 4.75 ERA over 36 innings.

The sixth overall pick by the Tigers in 2006 out of the University of North Carolina, Miller and Cameron Maybin were the top prospects acquired when the Marlins traded Miguel Cabrera to Detroit after the 2007 season. The 6-foot-7 left-hander struggled as a starter with the Marlins and was viewed as a failed top prospect but eventually emerged as a reliever with the Red Sox and Orioles before signing a lucrative free-agent contract with the Yankees in 2015.

He saved 36 games that year but was traded to Cleveland in 2016, where he made his biggest impact during a two-year run during which he was arguably the game’s top relief pitcher. He helped the Indians reach the World Series in 2016 with one of the best postseason stretches ever seen from a reliever. With manager Terry Francona using him for multiple-inning stints at any time in the game, he pitched four scoreless innings against the Red Sox in the division series and then took home ALCS MVP honors, appearing in four of the five games against the Blue Jays and allowing no runs with 14 strikeouts in 7.2 innings. Miller and Cincinnati’s Rob Dibble in 1990 are the only non-closers to win a postseason MVP award.

Miller picked up a hold and a win as Cleveland took the early lead over the Cubs in the World Series, but the Cubs finally got to him in Game 7 when they scored two runs off him, including a David Ross home run. Still, Miller finished that postseason with 30 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, postseason records for a…