At 56-55, NY is 7.5 games back of the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the AL East and sits five games behind the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers from both of the league’s wild-card spots.
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Alex Rodriguez became the second member of the New York Yankees to retire in the space of 48 hours.
Still, there was 501.63% jump in the average list price of tickets on the secondary market for the Yankees’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday hours after Rodriguez announced Sunday the contest would be his last, according to online ticket-tracking site TiqIQ. So, it was a little hard for him to accept Rodriguez was leaving as well.
“Alex has already proven to be a willing and effective mentor to many players who have come through our clubhouse, and I am confident that this next phase of his baseball life will bring out the best in Alex and the next generation of Yankees”.
“This is a tough day“. At 18, I just wanted to make the team. “And today I’m saying goodbye to both”. He will be paid the full value of his remaining contract, including the $21 million owed to him next season.
So have we seen the last of A-Rod, the player? “It’s been very painful and embarrassing to be on the bench. It’s been awkward”, Rodriguez explained. “Those were not the cards I was dealt, and again, I’m at peace with the organization’s decision”.
“The ultimate way to go out is on your own terms and Teix is getting an opportunity to do that and it’s sad to see that Alex isn’t”, Gardner said.
“This is an unbelievable place”, Rodriguez said.
So, if another team offered him a chance to play, would he consider it?
“It was easy to pencil his name in that lineup every day, you know, hitting third and playing third base, and never having to worry about where I was going to put him, never worry about the effort that I was going to get, never worry about the production I was going to get”.
“I think I can contribute”. But Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, who spoke with Rodriguez, said that it “sounds as if he is ready for the end”. The 41-year-old Rodriguez did not hide that he was none too happy about how he has barely been given playing time lately. “I know he has bigger goals and bigger dreams to do different things”.
A 14-time All-Star, Rodriguez is hitting.204 this season with nine home runs and 29 RBIs in 216 at-bats. He’s started one game since July 22 – going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on July 30.
NY traded relievers Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman at the trade deadline last month to shore up and greatly improve its farm system, effectively stating a postseason run was all but unrealistic.
His retirement comes just two days after Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira announced he would retire at the end of the season. “But it doesn’t work that way”. He trails only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) on the career list. “No matter how many you take, you can keep coming back for more”. “Hopefully we can send him off with a thank you for a great career”. Rodriguez would continue adding to his Hall of Fame numbers, finally winning a World Series in 2009.
However, he admitted in 2009 that he used performance-enhancing drugs earlier in his career with the Rangers. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen”. That means every time Rodriguez has stepped to the plate this year, he’s made an average of over $60,000. I wish him the best. Because he’s a great teammate and loves the game of baseball. “He’s somebody that has helped me a lot”.
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.
A-Rod would then have four or five more at-bats on Friday night at what will be an electric atmosphere for his last game.
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Hall of Fame voters, though, have ignored players such as Bonds, Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire; as long as those voting trends continue, Rodriguez nearly certainly will come up short of induction. He would not finish his 10-year contract with Texas. He has 696 home runs in his Major League career, which began with the Seattle Mariners in 1994. When the Rangers made a decision to trade him, a proposed deal to Boston fell through before the trade to NY.
