Yankees, Alex Rodriguez to address future; is he done in New York?
Alex Rodriguez’s future with the New York Yankees – whether he’ll be retained, released or otherwise part ways with the club – is expected to gain clarity Sunday morning during a press conference at Yankee Stadium.
Rodriguez, 41, is four home runs shy of becoming just the fourth player in major league history with 700 home runs. But he has just seven at-bats since July 22, and with the Yankees committing further to a youth movement with the trades of outfielder Carlos Beltran and reliever Andrew Miller at the trade deadline, it’s clear there’s little fit for A-Rod in the Bronx.
The movement picked up steam Friday, when first baseman Mark Teixeira, 36, announced his retirement at season’s end, when his eight-year, $180 million contract expires.
An exit strategy for A-Rod figures to be a bit more complicated.
The Yankees said general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi will available following Rodriguez's press conference.
Rodriguez is due $21 million in 2017, the final year of a 10-year, $275 million deal he signed after the 2007 season. He already lost $21 million in salary when he was suspended for the entire 2014 season for his role in the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal.
That episode seemed to create irreconcilable differences between Rodriguez and the Yankees, who sought to void his contract during that period of acrimony. But both sides made nice in 2015, when Rodriguez was a more-than-serviceable designated hitter and batted .250 with 33 home runs as the Yankees advanced to the AL wild card game.
It’s been bumpier this year, as Rodriguez is batting .204 with nine home runs in 234 plate appearances. The Yankees have hovered around .500 all season, and A-Rod’s presence further limits their roster flexibility, as he’s not considered able to play a position in the field.
If this is somehow it for A-Rod – and that seems unlikely, given the significant financial stakes – he’ll leave a significant but complex legacy. He admitted taking steroids from 2001-2003 while with the Texas Rangers – before there were penalties for performance-enhancing drug use – but said he was clean thereafter, and won his second and third MVP awards after a 2004 trade to the Yankees.
He exorcised his playoff demons of the past with an excellent performance in the 2009 World Series, winning his first title. But the good vibes unraveled in 2013, when he was connected to a wide-ranging scandal involving Biogenesis, the anti-aging clinic in Florida that ensnared more than a dozen players. During the process of appealing his suspension, A-Rod filed suit against the players’ union, among other entities, before finally accepting a 162-game ban that wiped out his 2014 season.
Entering Sunday, Rodriguez has 696 career home runs, 3,114 hits, a .295 lifetime average and 14 All-Star Game appearances.
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