Is A-Rod a goner?
There was no immediate answer to that question at 8 p.m. Saturday night after the Yankees sent out a release announcing a news conference for Sunday morning that will include Alex Rodriguez, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi.
Both sides maintained radio silence on the nature of the news conference as the evening wore on.
The end of Rodriguez’s Yankees career has been the subject of speculation much of this season. It reached a fever pitch after the trade deadline, when the Yankees made a clear shift in direction in an attempt to infuse their franchise with youth and athleticism.
Well before that, the struggling A-Rod, 41, who is stuck on 696 home runs, had been reduced to a platoon DH, but even those at-bats have all but disappeared.
Rodriguez, who is owed about $27 million between now and the end of 2017, when his 10-year contract expires, has a .204/.252/.356 slash line in 62 games this season. He has 234 plate appearances, but only seven since July 29.
Choosing to retire would seem unlikely, as that would mean that A-Rod would forfeit what he’s owed on his contract.
The choice of releasing Rodriguez and eating the remainder of his contract is solely up to managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner. Cashman indicated as recently as Wednesday that Steinbrenner was not inclined to make that move. But it’s worth remembering that in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, the owner resisted calls from his baseball operations department for a mass sell-off. He, of course, eventually relented.
..... - Newsday