Reports surfaced on Tuesday that the New York Yankees could release Alex Rodriguez before the season is over. The 41-year-old designated hitter has a .205/.253/.358 slash line on the season, and is set to make $20 million again in 2017.
Oh, and the Yankees are now in a full-on rebuild, after trading away Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran, and Ivan Nova before the trade deadline for prospects. You could see how A-Rod wouldn’t exactly make a ton of sense on this team, and at this point the contractual side of things should be viewed as a sunk cost.
And A-Rod is aware of all this, saying he’d be at “at peace” if the Yankees chose to cut him:
In fact, Rodriguez, owed the remainder of his $20 million salary this season and another $20 million next year, said he would be “at peace” with the decision.
“I think that’s right,” Rodriguez said before Tuesday’s game against the Mets at Citi Field. “No matter what happens, I’m at peace with myself.”
“I know that the future of the organization is brighter than it was last week,” Rodriguez said. “I hope I’m part of that equation. But if I’m not, I can accept it.”
However, Rodriguez believes he could add value as a mentor for the young Yankees players:
Rodriguez added he believes he can contribute both offensively and in the clubhouse as Yankees get younger “I’m a teacher at heart”#yankees
— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) August 2, 2016
Of course, in that case, the Yankees would probably just rather have him as a coach than a DH with a .611 OPS.
[NYDN]
