The New York Yankees announced prior to an emotional 11 am ET press conference that Rodriguez will play his last game as a Yankee on Friday, August 12th, and will then become a special advisor for the team. Two of the biggest, Rodriguez and Teixiera, have announced the end of their tenure with the team in the span of a weekend. He reportedly received HGH from Biogenisis of America, along with 12 other players in Major League Baseball.
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The news was indeed big, as Rodriguez will be playing his final game for the Yankees on Friday before being released. Rodriguez will continue on.
Rodriguez won two MVPs in NY, one in 2005 and the other coming in 2007. The 41-year-old, and one of baseball’s best will end his 22-year career which saw history and controversy.
A-Rod and the club made the announcement before Sunday’s game against Cleveland.
His last match will be against Tampa Bay at the Yankee Stadium, with A-Rod telling a news conference on Sunday: “This is a tough day. I love this game and I love this team”, he said, often pausing or choking up. With young players on the doorstep, Rodriguez has been taking up a roster spot for the Yankees due to his inability to play the field. Faced with this report, Rodriguez copped to using steroids in the 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons – when they weren’t specifically banned by baseball – as he began a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers.
Rodriguez said the agreement arose out of conversations over the past few days with Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner.
Relegated to little more than a spare part lately, the three-time AL MVP acknowledged “the last four weeks have not been fun”. “It’s been awkward”, Rodriguez explained.
“I think I can contribute. You always think you have one more hit in you”, Rodriguez said. “That wasn’t in the cards. That was the Yankees’ decision and I’m at peace with it”.
After Rodriguez is released, he will then sign a contract to remain with the Yankees as an instructor. That deal runs through December 31, 2017. He thanked the Steinbrenner family for the opportunity to stay in baseball.
Used primarily as a designated hitter this year, Rodriguez is batting.205 with nine homers and 29 RBI.
The Yankees said Rodriguez will report directly to Steinbrenner and will be assigned to work with players at all levels of the team’s farm system, including numerous club’s top prospects. “But it doesn’t work that way”.
NY manager Joe Girardi said he’d talk to Rodriguez about possibly playing this week in Boston. By trading veteran stars Carlos Beltran, Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller before the league’s trade deadline on July 31, the Yankees made it clear that they are rebuilding for the future.
On Friday, 36-year-old first baseman Mark Teixeira announced he will retire at the end of the season.
“As much as he’s gone through, the PED stuff and all the stuff that’s kind of happened throughout his career, he’s still one of my favorite players to watch as a child growing up”, Rays outfielder Steven Souza Jr. said.
Under the terms of his 2007 contract, Rodriguez is owed the remainder of his $21 million salary this season, plus another $21 million next year.
He helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series, but had been a controversial figure since he arrived ahead of the 2004 season in a trade with Texas.
Starting in 2008, Rodriguez made six trips to the disabled list in six seasons for a strained right quadriceps (2008), right hip surgery (2009), a strained left calf (2010), right knee surgery (2011), a broken left hand (2012) and left hip surgery (2013). He was suspended for the entire 2014 season for his part in the Biogenesis scandal, in which Major League Baseball players were accused of involvement with performance enhancing drugs allegedly supplied by the now defunct South Florida anti-aging clinic. Since his suspension, Rodriguez has said and done all of the right things to try and fix his image.
A-Rod made a successful return past year, when the Yankees made him a full-time DH, but his offense slid late in the season. It has been a very disappointing season for Rodriguez, as, after a strong 2015 season, Rodriguez has looked like a shell of himself this season, and has barely played in recent months. Last week, Rodriguez sat against Mets starter Bartolo Colon, a pitcher he’d lit up for a.425 average and eight home runs over their 19 years in the major leagues.
Rodriguez has just two home runs since June 3, leaving his career total at 696.
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The Rangers eventually traded him to NY in 2004, where he deferred to Yankee legend Derek Jeter and moved from shortstop to third base.
