Alex Rodriguez Used Steroids in 2003

Four different sources have reported that Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroid use in 2003, where he won the MVP as Shortstop for the Texas Rangers. I honestly don't know how to react to this. It seems like every single home run hitter has been juiced on steroids during some portion of their career. There is going to be a lot of questions now. Forget Torre's book! This, is what I call a distraction

How A-Rod is perceived for the rest of his career is going to depend completely on how he reacts to this situation, both off the field, and on the field. He has to report to spring training in less than two weeks. He can't avoid the media forever. Some people, most likely Red Sox fans and Mets fans are never going to be forgiving to him. He is almost certainly going to hear, unless he can somehow prove this to be false, "Steroids" and "A-Fraud" for the rest of his career when he goes to Fenway and the new Citi Field. I see two different ways he could deal with this report.

First is to deal with it the same way Roger Clemens has dealt with his steroid accusation. I have lost all respect for Clemens. All he has done is deny using steroids even though all the evidence is against him. During his interviews, he was very flustered and very defensive. He looked scared, and it was very clear that he was lying. Now, all people have lost respect for him. He has lost all credibility. All Hall of Fame chances. His career, and his life have gone down the drain.

Second is to deal with it the way Jason Giambi dealt with it. Jason went out, admitted using steroids right away, apologized, and worked really hard to be able to play will without steroids. He spent countless hours of work and practice, and eventually got back to be a reasonably good player. He won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 2005, and now, people have either forgotten, or have forgiven him for using steroids. And you never know. If Giambi sticks around for a while and has a strong finish to his career. Maybe gets to 500 homers, then he has a shot at the Hall of Fame. Something that would have no chance at happening if he had taken the "Roger Clemens" route. Now, I doubt A-Rod is ever going to get Red Sox fans to stop making chants at him at Fenway Park, simply because Alex is on a different level of playing then Giambi has ever been on. However, he can still keep the respect of Yankees fans, and eventually make this go away.

I am also concerned with how he is going to react on the field. It is probably linked with how he reacts off the field. If he acts like Giambi, he will probably continue to be the best player in the game. If he acts like Clemens, he probably won't ever be the same player again. I hope he takes the right route, and I think he will. I don't think he is on steroids anymore, I don't think he has been on them through his entire tenure with the Yankees. 

I said that this may be a distraction. That also depends on how he deals with it. If he takes the "Clemens" route, then I think it will be a major distraction this year and will affect the way other players play as well. However, if he makes the right decision, then it will still be a distraction, but not nearly as much, and I think the players will forgive him as well. 

Like I said, how he reacts to this is going to greatly impacts how he is reguarded and how he plays this season. I wonder what decision he will make. Leave your comments on how you think he will react to this. We will all get our answer very soon.