Following Friday’s game, Rodriguez will be unconditionally released by the Yankees from his player contract in order to sign a contract to serve in his new role with the organization through Dec. 31, 2017.
“This is a tough day. I love this game and I love this team,” Rodriguez said, often choking up during Sunday’s news conference. “And today I’m saying goodbye.”
Rodriguez, 41, 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 said “the last four weeks have not been fun.”
“It’s been very painful and embarrassing to sit on the bench. It’s been awkward,” Rodriguez explained.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, however, acknowledged that Rodriguez has a right to change his mind and pursue any potential opportunity. And for his part, Rodriguez never used the word “retire.”
So, if another team offered him a chance to play, would he consider it?
“A lot’s happened the last 72 hours,” Rodriguez said. “You know, when Hal told me, I just told him: ‘Give me a few days. I need to kind of think on this, sleep on it.’ I have not thought past the pinstripes, and my horizon is Friday. And, I haven’t thought much more than that.”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he’d talk to Rodriguez about possibly playing this week in Boston before the team returns home.
“He’s earned the right for us to sit down and have a conversation,” Girardi said, later adding, “If he wants to play in every game, I’ll find a way.”
The Yankees, who are pushing to play younger players, are contractually obligated to pay Rodriguez the remainder of his $21 million salary for this season and the $21 million he is owed for 2017, the final season of a 10-year, $275 million contract that was the largest in Major League Baseball when he signed it.
Cashman confirmed that Rodriguez and the team did not reach any type of settlement regarding the remainder of his contract. Rodriguez, therefore, will be paid the full sum still owed on his deal, which is approximately $27 million.
When asked if the Yankees considered letting Rodriguez play on another team in order to reach certain home run milestones, Cashman said no teams reached out to the Yankees to inquire about trading for him.
Rodriguez has won three MVPs and has made 14 All-Star teams during his 19 full seasons in the big leagues. He is fourth on the all-time home run list with 696, trailing leader Barry Bonds (762) by 66.
“Of course I think I can play baseball. 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.”
With Brett Gardner, Brian McCann and his teammates in attendance at a packed news conference, Rodriguez said he was thankful he would get a few more at-bats in front of family and friends.
“We all want to keep playing forever,” Rodriguez said. “But it doesn’t work that way.”
Rodriguez’s announcement comes just two days after Yankees first basemanMark Teixeira announced he would retire at the end of the season.