After 22 seasons, 14 All-Star Games, 10 Silver Sluggers, two Gold Gloves and three MVPs, Alex Rodriguez will retire.
In a press conference on Sunday morning, Rodriguez announced his retirement from the game of baseball, which will go into effect this Friday. The Yankees will release him at that time. Going forward, Rodriguez will join the Yankees as a special assistant and instructor. According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Yankees informed Rodriguez a few days ago that they wanted to release him. After some discussions, the team agreed to play him as designated hitter on Friday at home against the Rays to finish out his career. "Saying goodbye may be the hardest part of the job," Rodriguez told reporters. "But that's what I'm doing today." "We all want to keep playing forever. But it doesn't work that way." Rodriguez, 41, is one of baseball's most controversial figures. He has always been surrounded in a cloud of possible steroid use. Rodriguez allegedly tested positive for steroids in 2003 as a member of the Texas Rangers and was involved in the BALCO scandal. Though not suspended for that incident, Rodriguez's reputation as one of the league's best players was hurt. Then, in 2013, Rodriguez was suspended 211 games (the end of the 2013 season and the entire 2014 season) for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal with Anthony Bosch. Rodriguez reportedly admitted to using the steroids in November 2014. Performance-enhancing drugs aside, Rodriguez enjoyed one of the most celebrated careers in Major League Baseball history. He is a career .295/.380/.550 hitter with 696 home runs (fourth all-time) and 2,084 RBI. Rodriguez has been worth 113 fWAR over the course of his career, which ranks 13th all-time. Rodriguez was the first overall pick in the 1993 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners. Known as a baseball prodigy, Rodriguez was up in the Major Leagues the very next year, in 1994. He ended up playing seven seasons in Seattle before signing a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers, still the third-largest deal in MLB history. In 2003, after just a mere three years with Texas, the team decided they wanted to dump his contract and traded him to the Yankees, where he has been since. Rodriguez went on to sign another huge contract, a ten-year, $275 million extension (now baseball's second-largest contract) with the Yankees. This deal does not expire until after next season, but since the Yankees will be releasing Rodriguez, they still owe him the rest of his money. "To the other 29 clubs who want us to pay every penny, don't worry," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told Jayson Stark of ESPN. "We will be." The decision to release Rodriguez came during a time when the Yankees appear to be gravitating towards a youth movement. They traded Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova at the trade deadline, getting them tons of prospects. They're ridding themselves of their large payroll and are doing something that they have rarely done in the past: look to the future. Rodriguez does not fit the youth movement bill, and considering he was not producing in his current role, it made sense for the Yankees to decide to cut ties with him. In 2016, Rodriguez is hitting just .204/.252/.356 with nine home runs and 29 RBI over 234 plate appearances. He's been worth -1.1 fWAR and has found himself on the bench more than in the starting lineup. He'll likely fall short of 700 home runs, a milestone only ever done by three players: Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. "It's disappointing. It would have been a lot of fun to give it a crack," Rodriguez told FOX Sports. "I think I could have done it. But there's no shame in falling 18 home runs short of Babe Ruth." It's hard to imagine Major League Baseball without Alex Rodriguez, as one of the league's most contentious players has decided to call it a career. Even if it wasn't completely on his own terms. --Devan Fink
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After 14 Major League seasons, New York Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira has decided to hang up the cleats.
According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, Teixeira will announce his retirement today and will go into effect at the end of the season. The Yankees announced a 3 p.m. eastern press conference with Teixeira but did not give a reason as to why. The 36-year-old Teixeira was initially drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 2001 MLB Draft. The fifth overall pick was selected out of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It didn’t take long for Teixeira to earn a big league promotion, making the team out of Spring Training in 2003 and appearing in his first game as the designated hitter on April 1, 2003. Teixeira would go on to have a very successful season, hitting 26 home runs and driving in 84 with an .811 OPS. He finished fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. Teixeira would go on to play four-and-a-half seasons with the team that initially drafted him, posting a slash line of .283/.368/.533 while there, being named to an All-Star team and winning two Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers each. In 2007, Teixeira was traded to the Braves in a deal that got the Rangers Elivs Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He suited up for 157 games with Atlanta before being dealt to the Angels at the 2008 trade deadline. During the 2008-09 offseason, Teixeira became a free agent and cashed in. He signed an eight-year, $180 million contract with the Yankees, leading many to wonder if it was time for a salary cap in baseball. “At the rate the Yankees are going, I’m not sure anyone can compete with them,” Brewers owner Mark Attanasio told Bloomberg News in 2008. “Frankly, the sport might need a salary cap.” Teixeira went on to earn his money the very next season, hitting .292/.383/.565 with 39 home runs and 122 RBIs, both leading the American League en route to the Yankees’ World Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Since, the Yankees have seen Teixeira decline, likely due to both age and injuries. He’s posted just a .239/.336/.463 slash line since 2009, averaging 23 home runs and 69 RBIs. Teixeira has battled injuries and has not played 150+ games since the 2011 season. In 2016, Teixeira is having the worst season of his career, hitting .198/.287/.340 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs over 303 plate appearances. With that in mind, it only makes sense that the impending free agent has decided to call it a career. Cover Those Bases wishes Teixeira the best of luck in retirement. —Devan Fink
The Texas Rangers have added a big piece to their lineup on Monday, as they hope to upgrade their lineup at the designated hitter spot.
As first reported by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Rangers have acquired designated hitter and outfielder Carlos Beltran from the New York Yankees in exchange for minor league right-handers Dillon Tate, Eric Swanson and Nick Green. Beltran, 39, is enjoying another successful year in New York in 2016. Named to his ninth career All-Star Game, Beltran has hit .304/.344/.546 this season with 22 home runs and 64 RBI in 387 plate appearances, playing both the outfield and designated hitter. The Rangers are generally set in the outfield. Nomar Mazara, Jurickson Profar and Ian Desmond have done well there. However, they're struggling at designated hitter, where top prospect Joey Gallo has been recently. Rangers' designated hitters have posted a -2.3 fWAR, ranking 15th out of the 15 American League teams. Beltran is a free agent at the end of the season, finishing off a three-year, $45 million deal he signed with the Yankees during the 2013-14 offseason. Regardless, the Rangers hope that he will be able to add to their lineup in a spot that needs an upgrade in particular. In exchange for Beltran, the Yankees will get Tate, a 22-year-old starting pitcher who was the Rangers' 1st round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. Tate has struggled this season, going 3-3 with a 5.12 ERA and a 55-27 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He's still listed as the Rangers' 5th-best prospect, sporting a fastball that ranges between 92-98 MPH. --Devan Fink
The Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees completed a blockbuster trade on Monday, marking the second major move of the 2016 trade deadline season.
According to numerous reports, but first reported by Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, the Cubs have acquired All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman from the Yankees in a blockbuster deal. In exchange for Chapman, the Yankees received the Cubs' No. 1 prospect, shortstop Gleybar Torres. In addition, right-handed pitcher Adam Warren and outfield prospects Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford are also heading to the Yankees. On Saturday, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported that the Yankees were telling teams that they were close to dealing Chapman. They wanted to finalize the process of getting a deal done. Today, those intentions were fulfilled. As of Sunday, the Cubs were reportedly asking for an extension with Chapman before pulling the trigger on a deal. He is scheduled to hit free agency at the end of the season. It's unknown if the sides are discussing a deal. The 28-year-old left-hander was suspended the first 30 games this season due to a domestic violence incident last offseason but has returned to his former ways since. Chapman, who is known for reaching 100 MPH with his fastball quite frequently, has a 3-0 record with a 2.01 ERA and a 44 to 8 strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.93 FIP) in 31 1/3 innings pitched this season. He has recorded 20 saves in 21 chances. Chapman will be a good fit for the Cubs. He will probably serve as their closer going forward, though Hector Rondon, the Cubs' current closer, has been phenomenal this season (1.95 ERA, 18/22 in saves). With this deal, Rondon will likely be converted to a setup man, and he could return to the closer's position if Chapman leaves in the offseason through free agency. For the Yankees, this deal does not signify a complete rebuilding effort, but it is more of a retooling effort. Dealing Chapman makes sense purely because he will not be there long-term. And they got some good talent for him. Torres, 19, is one of the best prospects in all of baseball and is listed as the Cubs' No. 1 prospect on MLB.com. He has a .791 OPS this season in High-A Myrtle Beach, where he is three-and-a-half years younger than his average competition. Warren, 28, has a 5.91 ERA and a 27 to 19 strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.83 FIP) in 35 innings pitched with the Cubs this season. He was just optioned to Triple-A Iowa. The thing with Warren is that he was successful while with the Yankees from 2012 to 2015, however. He posted a 3.39 ERA in 289 1/3 innings pitched there, being used as both as a starter and a back-end reliever. He is very versatile. McKinney, 21, is a consensus top-100 prospect and was acquired in the Jeff Samardzija deal from the Athletics. In Double-A this season, he has a .677 OPS in 349 plate appearances. Crawford, 22, is a former 11th round pick by the Cubs who has a .713 OPS at Class-A Myrtle Beach this season. --Devan Fink
The New York Yankees are on the verge of making a move.
According to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the Yankees are telling teams that they are close to trading left-handed relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman. Rosenthal clarifies his statement in a follow-up report. A trade of Chapman is not necessarily imminent, however, the Yankees are ready to bring the process of dealing him to a conclusion. So while Chapman may not be traded today, a trade appears to be coming in the next few. The 28-year-old fireballer from Cuba has had a successful year serving as the Yankees' closer. After missing the season's first 30 games due to a domestic violence suspension, Chapman has returned to his former form. In 30 games this season, Chapman is 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA in 29 1/3 innings pitched. He has a 41 to 8 strikeout-to-walk ratio, good for a 2.05 FIP. Chapman has converted 20 of his 21 save opportunities this season. The Nationals, Cubs, Giants and Indians have been in on Chapman over the past few weeks, as Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reiterates. Stay tuned for more updates. --Devan Fink |
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