(It had been as high as $456 in the hours after Rodriguez made his announcement.) Tickets for Friday’s game averaged $76 before the Yankees held a news conference where Rodriguez said the game would conclude his 22-season major league career, the last 13 with the Yankees.
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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.
In a press conference before Sunday’s game against the Indians, the Yankees announced that Rodriguez, 41, will be unconditionally released from his contract after Friday’s game against Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium to serve as a special advisor and instructor with the team through December 31, 2017.
A-Rod will play against Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium on Friday night before ending his career as one of the most prolific and polarizing figures in baseball history.
Rodriguez announced he will play his final game Friday and then serve as an adviser to managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, and as a special instructor through 2017.
A 14-time All-Star, Rodriguez is hitting.204 this season with nine home runs and 29 RBIs in 216 at-bats. Rodriguez, who is still due approximately $27 million over the remainder of his contract, will be unconditionally released after the August 12 game, but he’ll still stick around the organization as an instructor and special advisor through December 31, 2017 while receiving his full payment.
“I think he wants to be an owner one day“, Cashman said of Rodriguez, who will be paid the balance of his $21 million contract for this year and all of his $21 million for next year, the final season of his 10-year, $275 million deal. Here are five teams that Rodriguez could join at some point in the next two years to extend his Major League Baseball career into his early 40s if he feels so inclined. It isn’t clear if he will get the full amount once he retires.
“No athlete ever ends his career the way they want to”, Rodriguez continued. Saying goodbye may be the hardest part of the job, but that’s what I’m doing today, ” said Rodriguez. “I do want to be remembered as someone who’s madly in love with baseball”.
Few players have as complex a legacy as Rodriguez, who was the first overall pick in the 1993 draft and made his Major League debut as an 18-year-old with the Seattle Mariners the next season.
A-Rod came back in force a year ago, batting.250 with 33 home runs and 86 RBIs.
In 2015, A-Rod enjoyed a renaissance season with 33 home runs after missing the entire 2014 season serving a suspension for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. And today I’m saying goodbye to both. If we had played better collectively, as a team, things wouldn’t be unfolding this way.
It appears the Red Sox won’t give Rodriguez a grand send-off either way, though: According to ESPN’s Scott Lauber, the club “might plan a low-key acknowledgment of A-Rod’s prominent place” in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, but “that’s about it”.
What did the Yankees get for their money? A-Rod will have until Friday to add to his career home run total, which now sits at 696, fourth highest in history.
“It’s bittersweet, I guess”, Sabathia said.
Cashman said Rodriguez is free to sign with any team following Friday’s release. He was quickly finding himself moving up on the all-time hit list and all-time home run list.
In this season, Alex set the home run record for a shortstop with 42 home runs.
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“The last four weeks have not been fun”, said Rodriguez.
