When it was reported last week that Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids during his days with the Texas Rangers, Rodriguez didn’t waste any time addressing the situation. His handlers were quick and pre-emptive. They found Peter Gammans of ESPN to do a sit-down.
Gammons has great credibility. He was a baseball writer for the hated Boston market; he is a Hall of Famer. He was the perfect guy for A-Rod to sit down with and tell his side of the story.
He was contrite and seemed honest and remorseful for his misdeeds. He was also a team player. While both ownership and his own players’ association left him to fend for himself, A-Rod never publicly questioned why he was in this predicament.
He never wondered out loud why his name was the only one that surfaced from a list of 104 that was supposed to be confidential and later to be destroyed. He didn’t throw anyone under the bus or demand that all parties involved be removed from their positions.
Fortunately, he did not take advice from Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds on how to answer questions. He will survive.
Why is Alex Rodriguez the only one here? Because he makes more money than anyone else? Because he plays on a high-profile team? Perhaps he is just an easy target with all the other things that are going on in his personal life. With that said, A-Rod should not be going down by himself.
The players’ association betrayed him. Rodriguez, like every other player, was under the impression that this information was confidential and was to be destroyed once the data was accumulated. The players’ association held on to the data, thinking they could prove that the testing would turn
out to be flawed.
OK, so why was that not made known to the participants involved in the testing? Why hasn’t the players’ association spoken out in defense of one of its members or taken the blame for this?
The owners are at fault too by not being forthright with the players about the results. Each side sat on the results long enough for the government investigation of Barry Bonds to subpoena the records; hence the leak of what was supposed to be confidential information.
What next? Nothing. This will be a story for talk radio and for those who claim “I told you so” for another week or so – or at least until spring training gets into full swing.
Once the games get started, it will be put on the back burner until next spring when someone else has an ax to grind. Notice the timing of this is just when the season is about to start. Also notice that when the games start it will go away.
The games will go on, the names will change and baseball will still have the same issues, though guilt will be harder to prove as everyone is now on guard. It doesn’t mean that they have stopped cheating. Until there is change at the top, it will be business as usual.
