UPDATE: It appears as if Rodriguez is already having second thoughts.
"I'm thinking in terms of my contract which ends in 2017," he told the New York Daily News. "After that, we'll see what happens. I've got two years and more than 300 games to play."
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New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has certainly endured highs and lows throughout his 20-year MLB career, but he'll be hanging up his cleats after the 2017 season.
The 40-year-old made the announcement at the Yankees spring training facility on Wednesday.
"I won't play after next year," he told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com. "I've really enjoyed my time. For me, it is time for me to go home and be dad."
He has two daughters, Natasha and Ella, and he's acknowledged in the past that he's been working to be a better father following his divorce with his wife, Cynthia Scurtis.
This comes as little surprise because it's doubtful many teams would be interested in signing a 42-year-old broken-down veteran to a major league contract heading into the 2018 season, but hey, you never know.
Rodriguez will make $21 million in each of the next two seasons as he finishes up his 10-year, $275 million contract with the Yankees. If he were to retire today, Rodriguez would end his career with 2,719 games played, 2,002 runs scored, 687 home runs, 2,055 RBI, 3,070 hits and 326 stolen bases in addition to a .297/.382/.554 stat line with the Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers.
Unfortunately, the former No. 1 overall pick of the 1993 MLB Draft will likely be most remember for the Biogenesis Scandal, in which he was unearthed for using performance-enhancing drugs. The scandal rocked Major League Baseball in 2013 and resulted in the suspension of 14 players, including Ryan Braun, Nelson Cruz, Everth Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Francisco Cervelli and Jesus Montero.
Rodriguez was suspended for a full season (all of 2014) by then-commissioner Bud Selig for his involvement, which is the longest suspension in MLB history. He was the only player of that group to not reach an agreement with the league on the length of the suspension and instead appealed and took MLB to court. That ultimately failed and the slugger eventually served his suspension, but came back last year and managed to put up impressive numbers for a 39-year-old that had played just 265 games since the start of the 2011 season.
He batted .250/.356/.486 with 83 runs scored, 33 home runs and 86 RBI in 151 games with New York last year.
It'll surely be interesting to see how his farewell tour will transpire considering he's one of the most controversial figures in the history of the game. Nonetheless, 2017 will now likely focus on Rodriguez's exit from the sport he's loved ever since he was a kid.
