Longtime Mariners 3B Kyle Seager announces retirement from MLB

MLB players will return to their teams at some point, but one player not returning is longtime Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager.

Seager announced Wednesday that he is retiring from MLB via a note published through his wife Julie's Twitter account.

Seager's full statement:

Seager made his debut for the Mariners in 2011 and went on to become a fixture in their infield for a decade, eventually becoming the team's de facto captain. In 11 seasons, he hit 251/.321/.442 with 242 home runs, 807 RBIs and Gold Glove defense. He may not be a Hall of Famer, but there was a reason he's beloved in Seattle.

Here's his final moment as an MLB player:

The 34-year-old's retirement comes after hitting free agency for the first time in his career, when the Mariners declined their club option on a $100 million contract signed in 2014. It's unclear how much interest he was seeing on the open market before the MLB lockout shut down all negotiations, and now we'll never find out.

That may be for the best, because it was difficult to imagine Seager playing in any other uniform.

It has been an eventful offseason for the Seager family, as Kyle's brother Corey also left a team that drafted him, though his final destination was bit more lucrative. The former Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop signed a 10-year, $325 million contract with the Texas Rangers.