Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his insanely lucrative contract with the New York Yankees, inevitably closing the door on a historical era in the Bronx. Oh, wait, he’s just been there a few years and has never won a championship. Never mind. The two-time American League MVP decided the pin stripes weren’t his forte and cited the uncertainty of some of his teammates staying with the team as his motive. (Why does Scott Boras think we’re fools?) The immediate likelihood is that a bunch of rumors will circulate as to how much money A-Rod is looking for and who will be able to afford him. But the hot item now is that giant junk of change Rodriguez is leaving behind.

Rodriguez loses the final $72 million in guaranteed salary in the record contract, which he signed with Texas before the 2001 season. The Yankees lose $21.3 million in remaining payments from the Rangers, a subsidy agreed to at the time of his 2004 trade. New York has said it would not attempt to re-sign A-Rod if he opted out.

He’s totally jumping on a plane to the Dominican Republic and busting a Dave Chapelle. Okay, maybe not. But before things progressed any further Monday morning, one of Sr. Steinbrenner’s child goons had some remarks for the October virgin:

“It’s clear he didn’t want to be a Yankee,” Steinbrenner told the New York Daily News. “He doesn’t understand the privilege of being a Yankee on a team where the owners are willing to pay $200 million to put a winning product on the field. I don’t want anybody on my team that doesn’t want to be a Yankee.[…] We’re not going to back down. It’s goodbye.”

We’re sorry but Alex didn’t receive that message because he was too busy taking a vacation on his bajillion dollar yacht. He’s probably cruising upstream to Boston as we write this.

Yankees bid farewell to A-Rod after likely MVP opts out [ESPN]
Image [AP]