Yankees announce Sunday news conference with Alex Rodriguez

Just days after teammate Mark Teixeira announced his retirement at a press conference, New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez will have a press conference of his own at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning prior to the team’s scheduled 1:10 p.m. start against the Cleveland Indians.

This season Rodriguez is batting.204 with a.609 OPS in 62 games. Rodriguez hasn’t started a game since July 23rd against Drew Smyly and the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Yankees and A-Rod have some news to share. It could mean that him retiring will be immediate, instead of after the season, or it could be their way of displaying transparency in their handling of this situation.

At the moment, it’s not guaranteed that the team will announce a release on Sunday when they meet with the media, but after all of the talk lately, it certainly seems like it’s a good bet that’s what might take place. The press conference will be broadcast on YES.

The Yankees and A-Rod have agreed to a “mutual parting of ways”, meaning some sort of buyout.

The way I see it, there are four possible reasons for the press conference.

Rodriguez has a $20 million salary this year and is owed $20 million in 2017. If Rodriguez were to retire, he would be walking away from that money. Rodriguez is essentially a dead roster spot preventing them from calling up a young player from Triple-A, so you can be sure they would be happy to get rid of him. There has been much speculation that he could be released, ESPN.com reports.