“He’s just a student of the game and, because of that, guys want to be around him”.
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On Friday, the Yankees called a news conference with 36-year-old first baseman Mark Teixeira, who announced he will retire at the end of the season.
In a statement, Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner said the slugger will mentor the next generation of New York Yankees.
“As far as milestones”, he said, “I would have had an unbelievable time trying to go after them…” It is what it is. “After a long and tumultuous career fueled by what even amateur psychologists could positively diagnose as a chronic inner turbulence, we suspect this was A-Rod merely acceding to the franchise’s wishes to move beyond him without stirring up memories of his contentious and litigious past”, he writes. He will then leave the team, going home to his family in Miami, and expects to assume his new duties in spring training.
As of Sunday, the team had less than a 2 percent chance of making the playoffs, having already traded some of their best players for prospects.
Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia said when Rodriguez makes decisions, “they’re pretty much final”. “It’s been awkward…management has told me I’ll get a few at-bats on Friday”. “He took me out here past year and I took ground balls”.
He’ll retire one of the most polarizing figures in baseball history.
Rodriguez is expected to play during New York’s three-game road outing against the archrival Boston Red Sox beginning Wednesday, and his final game will be Friday night against the AL East bottom-dwelling Tampa Bay Rays. “I want to give out my steroids to players like grocery stores give out free samples to customers” he said. “It is something very special to me and I will never forget what I have learned”.
“Sad the way its all gone down”, Gardner said. “He’s always treated me with respect”. Both Dellin Betances and Luis Severino found Rodriguez’s leadership invaluable.
“For me, it’s just how to pitch to certain hitters”, Betances said. That’s something he’s helped me a lot with.
Many of Rodriguez’s current and former teammates took to Twitter to bid him goodbye.
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“He got us a championship”, Dixon said. Girardi has at times become annoyed by repeated media questions over Rodriguez’s status. The club is rebuilding, so manager Joe Girardi could have continued to play him in September to allow him to try and reach the home run milestone. On May 4, the Yankees placed him on the 15-day disabled list due to a right hamstring strain. The longtime Yankees executive placed his 2009 World Series ring on the table, saying he wouldn’t have it if not for A-Rod’s contributions that year.
