On Friday, veteran reliever Grant Balfour announced his retirement from baseball after twelve seasons. He finishes an impressive career with 534 games played, 539.2 innings pitched, 571 strikeouts, and a career ERA of 3.49.
The bulk of Balfour's career was spent with the Rays but some of his best years were with the A's. Balfour played in Oakland from 2011-2013, pitching in 202 games, logging 199 innings and racking up 64 saves with a 2.53 ERA. He was a large part of the dominant bullpen effort that played a huge role in the A's surprise run of 2012 and their AL West defense of 2013.