Alex Rodriguez should just retire

Why would Alex Rodriguez want to come back to this?
(Photo: John Munson/The Star-Ledger via USA TODAY Sports)

For much of his New York Yankees career, Alex Rodriguez has been criticized for disappearing in big moments. Perhaps this is one time when he should actually do just that.

If Major League Baseball receives corroborating testimony from Tony Bosch, founder of defunct South Florida wellness clinic Biogenesis, that results in them issuing the injured Yankees star a 50- or 100-game suspension for receiving banned substances, wouldn’t Rodriguez’s best option be to retire from the game?

After a wretched 2012 postseason in which he went 3-for-25 and was benched for several key ALCS games, Rodriguez shouldn’t expect a warm welcome back from Yankee Stadium upon his return from injury in the coming months. Then again, self-awareness has never been Rodriguez’s thing.

However, calling it quits may be the only way to salvage what’s left of his legacy. He could blame his bum hip (if doctors find that it’s a career-ending injury, he’ll get his full contract and the Yankees will get most of the money back from an insurance policy) or say he doesn’t want to be a distraction to a game that’s given him so much and bow out without admitting innocence or guilt in the Biogenesis matter.

At 37, Rodriguez is still a young guy, worth over half a billion dollars, with the ability to spend the rest of his life doing practically anything he likes. Why choose to spend the next three-and-a-half years letting fans and media pillory him while he struggles to return to a performance level that over the past two years has made him an average player at best?

Rodriguez is never going to get the kind of farewell reception that awaits teammates Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter when they decide to call it a career. It’s hard to advise someone to walk away from $76,712 a day, but that’s what should be done. The glory days are gone, and his legacy nearly is too