April 19, 2009 at 9:43 PM
Wilkerson chooses retirement
Daniel Barbarisi of the Providence Journal is reporting that Brad Wilkerson, formerly of the Pawtucket Red Sox, has decided to retire after an eight-year major league career. The 31-year-old outfielder / first baseman cited a lack of fire as his reason for retiring. Wilkerson had been signed to a minor league deal in February with the expectation that he would compete for a backup role with Boston, but he lost out to Chris Carter after a poor spring training that saw him hit only .196/.286/.119 with 18 strikeouts in 42 at bats. In his major league career with Montreal / Washington, Texas, Seattle, and Toronto, Wilkerson hit .247/.350/.440 with 122 home runs and 399 RBI in 972 games.