Alex Rodriguez Is Retiring From The New York Yankees [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Fox Sports has more details on Alex Rodriguez’s departure. Per the report, the Yankees informed Rodriguez they intended to release him. They agreed to play him in a final game August 12th. Rodriguez will receive the remainder of his $20 million salary this season and the $20 million he was due next season.

Rodriguez, four home runs short of 700, did not say whether he would consider joining another team. He told Fox Sports: “Honestly, my horizon is pinstripes and Friday. It’s been such an emotional couple of days that I can’t really think beyond that right now.”

The Yankees called a press conference. The announcement went as expected. Alex Rodriguez is ending his New York Yankees career. He will play his final game August 12th. We won’t get a final send off season of him getting booed by fans in every MLB ballpark.

How do we remember A-Rod? It’s complicated.

Rodriguez has a résumé to match with anyone. He is a 14-time all-star and a three-time AL MVP. He hit 696 career home runs. He led the AL in WAR nine times. He won a World Series with the Yankees in 2009. He earned more than $378 million.

His achievements were tainted by multiple PED scandals. SI revealed Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids with the Rangers in 2003. He later admitted to using PEDs between 2001 and 2003. He was suspended for the entire 2014 season, after it was revealed he received HGH from an anti-aging clinic.

Judging from past voting, those scandals will preclude him from the Baseball HOF. Steroids and HGH render one unfit to be feted with amphetamine freaks, players who didn’t get caught using steroids and HGH, and the fabled heroes of whites only baseball. Historians will quibble about his “true Yankee” status.

Off the field, Rodriguez had a very public divorce and multiple celebrity girlfriends. He was an oft-reviled figure as a Yankee, labeled “A-Fraud” and accused of having a “Single White Female” obsession with Derek Jeter. The infamous mirror kissing photo shoot did not help his cause.

Haters expecting Rodriguez to leave MLB with his hundreds of millions and wallow in scorned ignominy for the rest of his days may be thwarted. He had a very promising debut as a TV analyst for FOX during last year’s playoffs. He may be a prominent MLB presence for years to come.