Aguilera turns down Padres' overture and will retire

NEW YORK (AP) -- Reliever Rick Aguilera turned down another overture to play this year, this time from San Diego, and plans to retire.

"He's not given me permission to say, 'I'm officially retired,' but I think anybody can figure out that's what he's going to do," agent Tom Selakovich said Saturday,

The 39-year-old Aguilera has played 17 seasons in the majors. He is eighth on the career saves list with 318 and has an 86-81 record with a 3.57 ERA, pitching for the New York Mets, Minnesota, Boston and the Chicago Cubs.

Selakovich said San Diego general manager Kevin Towers, Aguilera's roommate at BYU, called the right-hander last month to see if he was interested in playing another season.

"He decided last September that he probably wasn't going to play again, but he wanted to wait out and decide down the road," Selakovich said. "He wanted to make sure that after being home all winter he wasn't going to change his mind.

"Other than telling me, 'We're going to Europe this summer,' he hasn't really said anything. He told me, 'I don't want to make a big deal of my retiring. I want to stay with my family.' "

Aguilera, 1-2 with 29 saves and a 4.91 ERA for the Cubs last year, was offered $4 million to $4.5 million by the Cubs last fall to return for this season, but the agent said he told Cubs general manager Andy MacPhail on Dec. 6 that his client was turning it down.

The Cubs cut ties the next day by failing to offer salary arbitration, which would have extended their negotiating rights through Jan. 8. Selakovich said MacPhail presented the decision to part ways as that of the team, which angered him.