 On July 30 , 2008 , Rodríguez was traded to the New York Yankees for relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth after starting Yankee catcher Jorge Posada had season @-@ ending surgery . While Rodríguez wanted to leave Detroit due to Tigers manager Jim Leyland 's decision to use rotating catchers , he wound up sharing catching duties with back @-@ up Yankee catcher José Molina , starting only 26 of the remaining 55 games of the 2008 season . With his customary number 7 having been retired by the Yankees for Mickey Mantle , Rodríguez changed his jersey number to 12 . He finished the year with a .278 batting average with his time on the Yankees being his worst part of the season . 
