Miguel Rojas teases delaying retirement one more year, but Dodgers can’t bite

Whether you're the former MVP of your slow pitch softball league or a long-time MLB veteran, it can be pretty difficult to know when it's time to call it quits. Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas knows all about this conundrum.

After initially planning to retire after this season, he is now second-guessing his own decision to hang up his cleats for good. With the Dodgers gearing up for another deep postseason run, Rojas is envisioning more. But it could be a mistake.   

While speaking with Maddie Lee of The Los Angeles Times, Rojas opened up about his thought process regarding his eventual retirement. As you might imagine, he has revealed that there are conflicting feelings about whether or not he still has the skill and the endurance to be an MLB player in 2027. 

"There's days where I feel like I shouldn't be retiring," Rojas admitted. "There's days where I wake up in the morning and I say, 'Yeah, it's time.' I'm still going back and forth. I'm not 100% sure that this is the right decision, of stepping away from the game.”

According to Rojas, it may be too tough to leave the game when the Dodgers have been clicking so well these past several years. 

“When I think about what will be the deciding factor, it will be if this is enough for me, just walk away with what I have,” he added. “I don't want to be a bother. If I'm going to be here next year, it's going to be because we're looking for something.”

You would be hard-pressed to find a professional athlete who had 100 percent confidence in their decision to retire right out of the gate. Some players can cling onto the sliver of their athletic ability that remains and limp on for years, never coming close to their former glory days. Other players shiver at the idea of struggling year after year until they are essentially forced out of the game. Rojas is now caught in that no man's land somewhere in the middle.  

Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas has already seen what age can do to a player 

Rojas has always been that in-between player who never touched greatness throughout his career. A solid player and valuable veteran to have on a roster, but someone who was never going to win any individual awards or make an All-Star team. But he didn’t need to. With a 15.3 fWAR career up until this point, he has been a very good player throughout his 13 years in the big leagues.

Rojas has been a wizard with the glove his entire career. It’s what helped him play for so long. But his range has already started to shrink and he is seeing a slow but steady regression on defense. With 4 outs above average (OAA) in 2026 in the field, Rojas was still quite good. However, Rojas will be 38 years old prior to the start of next season. That means that regression will likely start to show even more in the field and at the plate.  

It's true that 2026 was a fairly solid offensive season overall for Rojas as well. With a .703 OPS in 225 at-bats, it's about as much as you could ask for from a bench player in limited playing time. But once again, how quickly will we see his swing diminish and his value drop even more? 

While he may not want to be a bother for the Dodgers, his indecisiveness could complicate the club's offseason plans. Rojas is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and he has indicated that he has no desire to play for any other team but the Dodgers. If he eventually reveals that he would like to come back for the 2027 season, there may be a scenario where the team could almost feel obligated to bring him back out of respect for the veteran. 

For a player like Rojas, that could result in a long season that only highlights his current regression path. Not only would that be a tough watch for Dodgers fans, but it could hamstring the team’s roster and block a number of younger players from getting at-bats. 

No fan wants to see their favorite player retire when they still had plenty left in the tank. But they don’t want to see that an aging player struggling to pick themselves up off the ground after a failed diving play either. Rojas will eventually have to determine which of those scenarios he can live with in 2027.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow