Alex Rodriguez announced he'll be retiring from baseball after the 2017 season. That's no real surprise, when you think about it: David Ortiz is the same age as A-Rod, and Ortiz is stepping away from the game after the 2016 season. The main difference is that A-Rod has $21 million guaranteed coming his way in 2017, as well as shots at history: he has 687 homers right now, and marketing bonuses aplenty as he makes his way toward 763 -- he could make a total of $30 million extra between homer 660, which he hit at Fenway Park last May, and that record-breaking 763.
Considering how the Yankees treated him before 2015, repeatedly leaking how excited it would make them if they could get out of his contract while also trying to keep those marketing dollars from him, you'd probably want to squeeze every last cent out of them, too. Plus, he hit 33 dingers last summer, so he's still earning that cash.
Red Sox fans have a... let's call it "complicated" relationship with A-Rod. There was once a time where they would have given just about anything for Rodriguez to be on the Red Sox. There was a time when the Red Sox themselves were willing to give just about anything to get Rodriguez, as he was the major trade target for the 2003-2004 offseason before the Yankees finally swooped in to relieve the Rangers of A-Rod and his record-setting contract.
Since 2004, he's been a hated member of the Yankees, because of his association with them in general as well as his multiple associations with performance-enhancing drugs, his part on the 2004 Yankees -- which included an attempt to slap the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove on his way to first base during the American League Championship Series -- and also that whole thing where he's really, really great and playing for Boston's chief rival during a period where things were, at times, more intense than during any other time in the game's history.
There are just two years of A-Rod left. This is either a blessing to you, or saddening. Even if you despise A-Rod, seeing the nature of the rivalry change is disappointing. At the least, he's someone you love to root against. Maybe he's someone you respected, in the same way you hope Yankees fans respect David Ortiz even through all the booing. In a different world, A-Rod might have been one of The 25. In this world, he's still a major piece of that incredible, unforgettable moment in Red Sox history, even if he was on the wrong side of it. That is a little sad, even if you're happy he's gone.
Me? I'm not thrilled he'll be gone, as I'm in the camp that hopes that, deep down, Yankees fans enjoy David Ortiz and will miss him even as they're excited he's no longer around to hurt them. You do you, though: it wouldn't be in the spirit of A-Rod if we all agreed on him.