A-Rod accidentally announced his retirement, then said he's not retiring yet

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On Wednesday afternoon, word came out that Alex Rodriguez planned to retire after 2017. It made a lot of sense: he's 40 years old now, and two more seasons would mean his Yankees contract was over. It turns out that what A-Rod thought he was talking about was the end of that deal, and not the end of his career, as later on Wednesday he announced that previously, he was not aware he was making an announcement about retiring -- he only meant to say we'll see what happens when his current deal is up two years from now.

It is not any less confusing if you read the quotes he gave both ESPN and the New York Post. "I won't play after next year," Rodriguez told ESPN. "I've really enjoyed my time. For me, it is time for me to go home and be Dad." As for the Post: "I’m thinking in terms of my contract which ends in 2017. After that, we’ll see what happens. I’ve got two years and more than 300 games to play.’’ So, uh, does he just mean he won't play for the Yankees after 2017? This is the most A-Rod thing possible.

So, you might as well put away your plans to calculate whether A-Rod has enough at-bats left in him over the next two years to surpass Barry Bonds on the all-time homer list, because if he's feeling good and he's close enough, he just might try to squeeze 2018 in there before he goes. It all depends on whether anyone would sign him, of course -- or how much he feels like being a Dad with a capital D -- but if he manages to string together three seasons without any kind of PED incident, and he's still performing at a level where dingers are leaving the park often, someone will sign him.

You know, unless MLB blacklists A-Rod the Free Agent. Not that they would ever do anything like that.

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