According to a report by Bill Madden, Christian Red and Teri Thompson of the New York Daily News, Alex Rodriguez’s Yankees career could be over.
Alex Rodriguez is unlikely to ever wear the pinstripes again, sources familiar with the Yankees’ situation with their troubled third baseman told the Daily News, no matter what happens regarding new allegations that he is again involved with performance-enhancing drugs.
According to numerous baseball sources, the hip surgery Rodriguez is now recovering from will likely derail his playing career, leaving him in such a diminished role that he may consider a settlement or an outright retirement. He still has five years and $114 million left on his contract.
“I don’t know why he would want to go through the pain of rehabbing and trying to play up to the caliber of player he was, and come back to a game where nobody wants him,” said a baseball official.
This is all starting to take on a life of its own since the Miami New Times reported on Tuesday that a notebook implicating Rodriguez and other players to performance-enhancing drugs was discovered during a federal investigation of a known steroids and PED distributor. Other players implicated include Gio Gonzalez and Melky Cabrera. The federal investigation is ongoing and MLB has launched an independent probe of their own.
If A-Rod is forced to retire because of the injury, the Yankees will collect 85% the remaining salary and the insurance will award Rodriguez a huge lump sum payment.
It looks like it’s in the best interests of both the Yankees and A-Rod if he chose to retire. Some guys (and teams) get all the luck.
