So Steinbrenner took it upon himself to send A-Rod a firm message, but in a nice way. The message, in effect, was You are done, at least as a integral part of the Yankees everyday playing team. But Steinbrenner said it much more gently than that.
Steinbrenner told Rodriguez in their tete-a-tete on Wednesday night that the at-bats would be fewer and farther between. He also told him he wasnt there to hurt him, that hed get all of the $27 million or so due him. Oh and by the way, he had a nice offer to remain a part of the team in a non-playing role.
Were not going to hurt you, Steinbrenner, in effect, told him. There just arent going to be many opportunities for you.
It was an offer A-Rod probably couldnt refuse. He could either hang around a team quite obviously in transition, hoping to get an at-bat or two a week (he didnt even start Thursday against Bartolo Colon, whom he has absolutely killed in the past; he has a 1.792 OPS against him), or he could retire with a nice sendoff and have a job waiting for him as an adviser/instructor/ambassador with the organization he loved.
It apparently wasnt such an easy call. It seems Rodriguez could have chosen to keep traveling with the team, and finishing out the season in uniform, if not often on the field. Rodriguez took three days to think about it, and it appears he even had a few more talks with Steinbrenner to clarify things, and maybe even ultimately to tailor the plan to his liking. But Steinbrenner quietly and without incident got his way; theres no question about that.