Guillermo Mota retires from Royals, baseball

Guillermo Mota, the 40-year-old reliever with 14 seasons of big-league experience, has retired. He left Royals camp on Friday afternoon. He told team officials he wanted to spend more time with his children.

"He’s had a great career," manager Ned Yost said. "He’s a great kid."

Mota stood little chance of making this club. The team signed him to a minor-league contract in January.

He last pitched in the majors with San Francisco in 2012. During that season, Major League Baseball suspended him 100 games for clenbuterol, a performance-enhancing substance that Mota said entered his system from his children’s cough medicine. He also received a 50-game suspension for a violation in 2006.

Yost managed Mota in Milwaukee in 2008, one of his seven big-league stops. Mota came up as an infielder with the Mets. The Expos claimed him in the Rule 5 draft and converted him to the mound. He appeared in 743 games with a 3.94 ERA.

"Always happy, always in a good mood," Yost said. "Always read to play. And he really competed well. And he had really, really good stuff. He had a heck of a career."

This story was originally published March 2, 2014 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Guillermo Mota retires from Royals, baseball."