Report: Yankees not planning to pay A-Rod bonus for 660th home run
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Saturday the Yankees do not plan to pay Alex Rodriguez a $6 million bonus for hitting his 660th career home run, reports ESPN.com.
Rodriguez is believed to be owed five payments of $6 million for hitting a series of home run milestones. The first was reached on Friday, when he hit his 660th career home run to tie Willie Mays for fourth on Major League Baseball's career home run list. Those bonuses are reportedly detailed in an addendum to the 10-year, $275 million contract Rodriguez signed with the Yankees in 2007.
In January, the New York Daily Newsreported the Yankees were "preparing for a battle" over payment of Rodriguez's bonuses. Considering Rodriguez's repeated steroid use, the Yankees believe the bonuses are no longer marketable and thus should no longer be paid out.
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Per the addendum to his contract, Rodriguez will be owed $6 million every time he climbs higher on MLB's all-time home run list.
"We have the right but not the obligation to do something, and that's it," Cashman told reporters before the Yankees played the Red Sox for the second of a three-game series in Boston on Saturday. "We're going to follow the contract as we follow all contracts, so there is no dispute, from our perspective."
Rodriguez hit his 660th home run in Friday night's game, a 3–2 Yankees win in which Rodriguez's home run provided the go-ahead run.
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The Yankees won the second game of the series 4–2 on Saturday. Rodriguez went 1-for-4 with a single in the eighth inning.
- Mike Fiammetta
