New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez announced on Sunday that he is is playing his final game with the team at the end of the week.
In an interview with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, A-Rod revealed that he made the decision because the Yankees had plans to release him. However, the 41-year-old holds no hard feelings toward the organization and is planning to remain with the team in the near future as an instructor and special advisor to owner Hal Steinbrenner.
“It’s both a happy and sad day,” Rodriguez told Rosenthal. “I’m obviously disappointed but I’m also at peace with their decision.”
A-Rod would not rule out playing for another team when the 2016 season ends.
“Honestly, my horizon is pinstripes and Friday,” he said. “It’s been such an emotional couple of days that I can’t really think beyond that right now.”
The Yankees have agreed to put Rodriguez in the lineup as a designated hitter on Friday for his final home game at Yankee Stadium. He will then be paid the remaining $20 million he is owed and released. With New York having traded both Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, it is clear the team has entered a rebuilding phase.
“This is what the organization wants right now,” A-Rod said. “Obviously, there’s a shift. There’s a youth movement. I’m sure it was hard for them. It was hard for me. I’ve played almost 22 years in the major leagues and I’ve never sat on the bench. It was new territory, that’s for sure.”
A-Rod, who is hitting .209 this season with a .252 OBP, has started just one of the Yankees’ last 14 games. He is currently just four home runs shy of 700 for his career, and he said the team’s decision to not play him has made him “extremely uncomfortable.”
“It’s disappointing. It would have been a lot of fun to give it a crack,” Rodriguez said of chasing the all-time home run record. “I think I could have done it. But there’s no shame in falling 18 home runs short of Babe Ruth.”
Rodriguez could still sign on with another team and make a run at Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homers, but he’d likely only be signed as a PR stunt at this point. He clearly doesn’t have much left in the tank.
With Derek Jeter gone and another popular veteran recently announcing he will retire at the end of the season, the Yankees are coming to the end of an era.
