Number of Players in the game

Detroit tiggers

All of these threads with people (myself included) trying to figure out the best way to draft players are based on how many players in the game - something that appears to be in some limited dispute.

Which caused me to start thinking - What does Glu do when a player was in the original game but retires. Are they still in the game available available for new players or do they only exist only on certain teams as long as someone has them on their roster?

Case in point - Paul Konerko who retired on September 28, 2014. I had him on my original team at 1B and then upgraded. Now that I am going for a more 5-star players I have drafted enough where I should have seen him already, but he doesn't show up on my new draft list.

So, does he continue to play under the old stats (2.5-stars 4/6/1) for those players who still use him?