9 veterans who could be saying goodbye after the 2024 season

This past weekend, in response to considerable speculation in the midst of what has been the worst season of his career, Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt made it clear: He intends to return in 2025. It was a fair question to ask: The 2022 National League MVP Award winner and potential future Hall of Famer has struggled all season, and his contract expires at the end of the year. But Goldschmidt didn’t hesitate: “Yeah, I want to play next year; I want to continue to play.”

So that answers that question. But he’s not the only guy we were wondering about. It’s a special thing, really, to follow a baseball player throughout his career: These are players whose names we have known for nearly two decades now. It is a reasonable question, though, whether over the final month of the season (or two months, for those on playoff-bound teams), we will be seeing them for the last time.

Thus, we wanted to take a moment to look at nine guys who could be near the end of their careers. While they still might come back next year, it’s possible this is it for them -- none has a guaranteed contract beyond 2024. So appreciate them while you can: Their names will remain in your brain for decades to come.

(Note: We are excluding players like Clayton Kershaw and Charlie Blackmon, veterans of one particular franchise who will surely be invited back by their longtime teams if they decide to return, though they have not yet announced their intentions in either direction.)

Kevin Kiermaier, CF, Dodgers
Current age: 34

Kiermaier has already announced that he’ll be retiring at the end of the season, so this is unquestionably the last time we’ll all see him. He remains a useful player the same way he has always been a useful player: He’s a brilliant defensive outfielder who can steal a base late in a game if you need him to. Keep an eye on him if the Dodgers make the World Series: He hit .368 with two homers against them as a Ray in the 2020 Series.

Andrew McCutchen, DH, Pirates
Current age: 37

The only player on this list to have won an MVP Award, McCutchen is the active leader in games played and one of the most beloved players in the sport. It has been downright gorgeous to see him back in a Pirates uniform for the past two seasons, and if he wanted to continue signing a series of one-year contracts with the team until he was in his 70s, I don’t think that many people would have a big problem with it. He can still hit, by the way: He remains tied for second on the Pirates in homers, with 18. That gives him 233 with Pittsburgh, seven behind Roberto Clemente for third on the franchise’s all-time list.

Rich Hill, LHP, Red Sox
Current age: 44

It’s a gift to have Hill around at all, especially back in Boston, which is where he’s from and where he has pitched now four different times in his career. You’d have to think this would be his last run -- there isn’t much room for Jamie Moyer types in baseball today -- but then again, we’ve all said that before about him, and here he is, still pitching, in his 20th consecutive MLB season. Baseball will be a little less fun when Rich Hill is officially gone.

Jason Heyward, OF, Astros
Current age: 35

Few players have had a more stirring introduction to the big leagues than Heyward, a Georgia native who, in his first game with the Braves, homered with Hank Aaron in attendance. It looked like we were seeing a future Hall of Famer in the making, and while it didn’t turn out that way, Heyward still holds an undeniable place in MLB history thanks to his time with the Cubs, when he was one of the key leaders on the 2016 team that won the franchise's first World Series in 108 years. (His rain-delay speech will forever be the stuff of legend.) Released by the Dodgers on Aug. 24 amidst a roster crunch, Heyward quickly caught on with the Astros and will have another shot to make a postseason impact this fall.

Justin Turner, 1B, Mariners
Current age: 39

It has been quite a journey for Turner, who was a struggling, disappointing Mets prospect before heading to Chavez Ravine to become a spiritual leader -- and consistently underrated hitter -- for the Dodgers for nearly a decade. He has done nothing but hit his entire career (he hasn’t had a below-average OPS+ for 13 straight years, including this one), and he has made every lineup he has been in better. Also, did you remember that he started his career with the Orioles? (I didn’t.)

Kyle Hendricks, RHP, Cubs
Current age: 34

The only remaining Cub from that 2016 World Series team, Hendricks has always felt like a throwback: a guy who didn’t throw very hard and didn’t strike out very many people but still found a way to get outs. A lot of them, in fact: Remember, he had a 2.13 ERA in that '16 season and had a 1.00 ERA in two starts in the World Series. His special magic seems to have faded this season, but he’ll be beloved around Wrigley Field for the next 100 years, and for very good reason.

Matt Carpenter, DH, Cardinals
Current age: 38

Carpenter actually made his debut with the Cardinals on their 2011 World Series championship team, albeit going 1-for-15 in only seven games. He established himself as an on-base force the very next season, finishing sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, and he become a beloved Cardinals staple over the next decade with his preternatural batting eye and, eventually, a power stroke. He finished in the top 12 of MVP voting three times, and he was briefly a folk hero in the Bronx when he went on a power surge for the Yankees in 2022. He’ll likely say goodbye with the Cards over the last month of this season.

Jesse Chavez, RHP, Braves
Current age: 41

There is something emotionally satisfying about a crafty reliever still hanging on into his 40s: It’s the role we all imagined we could do (if we were far more athletically gifted than we all actually are). Chavez made his debut with the Pirates way back in 2008 as a reliever, but he had a few years where he started for the A’s and Angels about a decade ago. Chavez has had one of his best stretches out of the bullpen for the Braves the past couple of seasons, and he could maybe find his way back to a roster next year. He’ll forever be crafty!

Yuli Gurriel, 1B, Royals
Current age: 40

Gurriel didn’t come over from Cuba until he was 32, which is why you probably didn't realize he’s already 40. However, he has played in four World Series and came away with rings in two of them, all with the Astros, where he was in the lineup nearly every day for seven years. He fell off a cliff a little bit after winning a Gold Glove Award and leading the AL in batting in 2021, but he was just added to an MLB roster for the first time this year by the Royals, who have been hammered by injuries. He left his second game with his new team with hamstring tightness, but as long as that does not prove serious, Gurriel could add to his ring collection in October.