Rodriguez announces retirement, will play final game Friday
Alex Rodriguez’s 22-year baseball career will come to an end on Friday when he plays his final game for the New York Yankees, and then assumes a special advisor role with the club, the Yankees announced Sunday.
The Yankees and Rodriguez held a news conference Sunday to signal the end of a complex and undeniably dominant career. Rodriguez is still owed $21 million in $2017 and about $7 million for the remainder of this year; the Yankees will release him following Friday’s game and he’ll continue in a role as advisor through 2017. GM Brian Cashman confirmed that Rodriguez will receive his full salary through the expiration of his 10-year, $275 million contract.
Rodriguez’s final game will come Friday night at Yankee Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays, the final chance to add on to a resume that includes 696 home runs, fourth in baseball history.
“This is a tough day,” Rodriguez said Sunday. “I love this game, and I love this team. And today, I’m saying goodbye to both.”
Said Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner in a statement: “After spending several days discussing this plan with Alex, I am pleased that he will remain a part of our organization moving forward and transition into a role in which I know he can flourish.”
Sunday’s move will continue the marriage of a player who filled New York’s hallowed ballpark and the pages of its tabloids with equal fervor.
New York was where A-Rod earned some ugly tags: Drug cheat, philandering husband, pariah, serial liar, postseason choke artist.
It’s also where he found redemption: Two MVP awards, a star turn in the 2009 postseason, and an unlikely comeback tale after serving a humbling, yearlong ban in 2014 for his role in the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal.
“I want to be remembered as someone who tripped and fell a lot, but kept getting up,” Rodriguez said Sunday
At 41, he’s now a man without a team, but his career numbers nearly speak for themselves: 696 home runs, 3,114 hits, a lifetime .930 on base plus slugging percentage. His 118 Wins Above Replacement ranks 12th all-time, sandwiched by Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig. Every player above him on that list, with the exception of Barry Bonds, is in the Hall of Fame.
Like Bonds, A-Rod’s Cooperstown candidacy will be affected by his significant dalliances with performance-enhancing drugs.
Expectations were raised for Rodriguez in 2016 after he hit 33 home runs last season, his first year back after being suspended for all of 2014. But this year the 41-year-old is batting .204 with nine homers in 216 at-bats. His playing time began to disappear at the beginning of July, starting just nine games of the Yankees’ past 32 games.
“The last four weeks have not been fun,” Rodriguez said at his Sunday press conference. “It’s been very painful and embarrassing to sit on the bench. It’s been awkward. From that sense, I’m very happy that we found a solution.
“Management has told me that I’ll get a few at-bats on Friday.”