If you're reading on mobile, tap here.

DENVER - In nearly three years with the Rangers, Prince Fielder rediscovered the pure pleasure of playing baseball that once embodied his career. And, as he often cited his attempts to "mature as a human being," he discovered the true joy of being a father and husband.

The former is gone now.

The painful reality, though, gives him the chance to experience the best of the latter.

Three sources close to the situation confirmed Tuesday that Fielder's career is over after a decade in the majors due to a pair of disk herniations in his neck. An official announcement will be made Wednesday afternoon in Arlington where, presumably, Fielder, still in a neck brace from his second spinal fusion surgery in the last 27 months, will address the decision.

Fielder, 32, will be declared "medically disabled," as doctors will not clear him to return to baseball over the perilous risk to his spine from the two cervical fusions, according to sources. The Rangers were aware of this possibility at the time he underwent the surgery in July. Teammates such as Adrian Beltre said at the time they were "shocked" over the development. In that regard, the news Tuesday, which broke about an hour before a 7-5 win over Colorado, wasn't a complete surprise to his teammates, but was depressing nonetheless.

"I don't know exactly what he is going to say, but his family has to come first," Beltre said Tuesday after acknowledging that he'd known the situation was dire. "If he's pushed out of baseball at 31 or 32, that's tough to swallow. We know how talented he is. But he has to do what is right for him and his family."

He is due to receive the full remaining value of his contract, roughly $104 million through 2020, unless the sides work out a retirement settlement. The Rangers will be responsible for $44 million of it, Detroit $24 million and another $36 million will come via an insurance policy the Rangers inherited when they traded Ian Kinsler for Fielder after the 2013 season. The Rangers will receive 50 percent of their annual $18 million salary commitment to him via the claim.

As big as those figures are, they still seem a little bit menial when it allows a father of two boys - one a week shy of his 12th birthday and another a rambunctious 10-year old - to actively partake in their growth. It will also allow Fielder to continue to grow his marriage to his wife Chanel, with whom he celebrated his 10-year anniversary on the day the surgery was announced. Fielder has often said that they were kids when they got married and they were kids having kids. They made mistakes together, but still grew a close-knit and also extended family.

An example of his parental nature: Fielder went out of his way in 2015 to take both Delino DeShields and Keone Kela as projects. Both were making big leaps to the majors, and Fielder wanted them to avoid the same mistakes he made.

He simply can't play baseball anymore. His neck won't allow it without a significant risk of impaired mobility - or worse. It is not a weight issue; as Rangers personnel told me, his neck didn't carry the burden of carrying his weight. It is more a function of a violent, jerky swing that created incredible force on baseballs, but also incredible torque on the neck.

It seems unthinkable that he has gone from being one of the most durable players in baseball to incapacitated in three years. He played 157 or more games from 2006 until the Rangers traded for him after 2013; only after he experienced some neck stiffness and weakness in his arms two months into the 2014 season. After a sad end to his tenure in Milwaukee and two unhappy years in Detroit, the recovery from the surgery gave him time to rediscover how much he enjoyed playing. He responded with a .305 season and 23 home runs in 2015, but struggled all this season before the latest herniation was discovered.

In the real world, having the surgery and leaving the playing field is the best thing that could happen to preserve his quality of life. In the cold, hard big-money world of baseball, it's also probably the best for the Rangers' business operations. He no longer had the power he once did. If he'd come back from the neck issues, it's likely his skills, perhaps already in decline, would have been further compromised.

Instead, the Rangers will get $9 million in salary relief, as much, if not more, as they could hope to get if they had been able to deal him this winter. The salary relief may allow the Rangers to make a play for re-signing Ian Desmond or to make a contract extension offer to Yu Darvish or Jonathan Lucroy. If the Rangers don't work out a retirement settlement with Fielder, they will have to keep him on the 60-day DL, then re-activate him every winter, essentially leaving them with only 39 usable spots on the 40-man roster.

On the business end, it may yield some long-range benefits.

What was clear Tuesday: The biggest potential benefit is Prince Fielder may continue to grow as person, a father and a husband.

Given that, the fact he won't be able to do it with a bat in his hand seems somewhat trivial.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

More Prince Fielder coverage

Photos: The best of Rangers DH Prince Fielder

From 2015: Prince Fielder's march back to stardom starts with pilates, boxing and family

Cowlishaw: Why it's unfair to call the Rangers' Prince Fielder-Ian Kinsler swap a bad trade

Prince Fielder's Instagram post before Dallas shootings goes viral, faces criticism

Prince Fielder explains the origins of this crazy Rangers handshake

With potentially life-threatening sleep issue under control, Prince Fielder returns to Rangers

Career statistics