Yankees to hold mysterious, unexpected press conference with Alex Rodriguez Sunday

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees will be holding a press conference with Alex Rodriguez on Sunday afternoon.[br /][br /]The team said the press conference will be held at 11 a.m. at Yankee Stadium, and General Manager Brian Cashman and Yankees Manager Joe Girardi will both be on hand.[br /][Ads /][br /][twitter ID="762076302618857472 " /][br /][br /]It is unclear what Sunday's press conference will about, but many people are speculating Rodriguez will either be released or will announce his retirement.[br /][br /][twitter ID="762082599967809536 " /][br /][br /][twitter ID="762080959432839169 " /][br /][twitter ID="762082444681945088" /][br /][br /][twitter ID="762083095172485120[br /]" /][br /][br /]The 41-year-old designated hitter, a 14-time All-Star, has a .204 average this year with nine homers and 29 RBIs in 216 at-bats. He has all but disappeared from the Yankees in the last month, at first losing his designated hitter job against right-handed pitchers and then hardly leaving the bench. Girardi has at times become annoyed by repeated media questions over Rodriguez's status.[br /][br /]"No matter what happens, I'm at peace with myself," Rodriguez said Tuesday.[br /][Ads /][br /]"I think I can contribute. I think I can help out in the clubhouse," he added, "but if not, I have two beautiful daughters waiting for me in Miami."[br /][br /]On Friday, the Yankees called a news conference with 36-year-old first baseman Mark Teixeira, who announced he will retire at the end of the season.[br /][br /]A-Rod has had just one start and seven at-bats in 14 games since July 22 as New York traded veterans Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova, turning toward a youth movement. He is in a 4-for-36 (.111) slump and has struck out in five of his last six at-bats.[br /][br /]"I can't really tell you when I'm going to play him," Girardi said Thursday.[br /][br /]Rodriguez has just two home runs since June 3, leaving his career total at 696. He trails only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) on the career list.[br /][br /]A-Rod has a $20 million salary this year and is owed $20 million more in 2017, the final season of a $275 million, 10-year contract that was the baseball's largest when he signed it.[br /][br /]Rodriguez helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series but had been in repeated controversy since he arrived ahead of the 2004 season in a trade with Texas.[br /][br /]He won his second and third AL MVP awards with the Yankees but has been a pariah for some since his 2009 admission he used performance-enhancing drugs while with Texas earlier in his career.[br /][Ads /][br /]Starting in 2008, Rodriguez made six trips to the disabled list in six seasons for a strained right quadriceps (2008), right hip surgery (2009), a strained left calf (2010), right knee surgery (2011), a broken left hand (2012) and left hip surgery (2013).[br /][br /]Major League Baseball suspended him on Aug. 5, 2013, for the remainder of that season and all of 2014 for violations of baseball's drug and labor contract caused by use and possession of numerous prohibited performance-enhancing substances and attempting to cover up his violations.[br /][br /]Rodriguez returned from hip surgery and played while appealing the suspension, and the following January an arbitrator cut the penalty to all of the 2014 season.[br /][br /]A-Rod made a successful return last year, when the Yankees made him a fulltime DH, but his offense slid late in the season and hit .224 from Sept. 1 on. That left him with a .250 average for the year with 33 homers and 86 RBIs.[br /][br /]His slump continued at the start of this season when he hit .185 with four homers and eight RBIs in April and .130 with two homers and six RBIs in May, when he was on the disabled list from May 4-26 because of a strained right hamstring. His average rose to .267 with two homers and 13 RBIs in June before dropping again.[br /][br /]Rodriguez started his big league career with Seattle in 1994 and signed a $252 million, 10-year contract with Texas before the 2001 season, the largest agreement in baseball history. When the Rangers decided to trade him, a proposed deal to Boston fell through before the trade to New York. He agreed to shift from shortstop to third base as part of the trade to the Yankees, who already had Derek Jeter at shortstop.[br /][br /]A-Rod opted out of the contract after the 2007 season, became a free agent and signed the $275 million deal with the Yankees.[br /][br /]([i]Some information from the Associated Press[/i])