Rodriguez arrived 3 1/2 hours before the early-afternoon practice. He emerged from a Maybach — an elite German car that sells for $350,000 — driven by his brother and carried a New York Yankees equipment bag into the clubhouse. When a handful of fans standing beyond the parking lot gate cheered for him, he pumped his fist.

When his former wife and children arrived shortly before the workout, Rodriguez greeted them in the parking lot.

The Cardinals stretched on a practice field as the Dominican team gathered. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said he enjoyed watching the parade of Dominican stars.

"I'm a baseball fan," La Russa said. "Pedro Martinez in our clubhouse — that's neat stuff."

The team also includes David Ortiz, Miguel Tejada, Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes. But the biggest star was Rodriguez, whose celebrity has intensified since news of his positive drug tests surfaced last month.

Martinez said the media have made too much of the story.

"You guys focus on the bad stuff," he said. "I believe that there are a lot of positive things that you can look at through baseball. You're focusing on the wrong thing. Let go of the other stuff. Come on. Let's play baseball. That's what we're here for."

The commissioner's office said Rodriguez was "cooperative" in his interview Sunday with baseball's Department of Investigations and Labor Relations Department. No further details were revealed.

When asked Monday if he's in an image-mending mode, Rodriguez chuckled.

"I've put myself behind the eight ball, that's for sure," he said. "I've made mistakes. I feel bad about them. But I'm also looking forward to doing good things — not only playing good baseball, but perhaps being a messenger of the right message for kids in the future to not make the same mistake I made."

Rodriguez was accompanied at the Tampa meeting by lawyers Jay Reisinger and James E. Sharp. Also present were union general counsel Michael Weiner, MLB vice president of investigations Dan Mullin, MLB executive vice president for labor relations Rob Manfred and senior vice president and general counsel for labor Dan Halem, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because he wasn't authorized to discuss details.

MLB wanted to learn about security issues involving a trainer from the Dominican Republic and the cousin the three-time MVP said injected him with a banned substance called "boli."

Rodriguez and the Dominican Republic will play three pre-tournament games against major league teams this week.

"He's going to have to go through traveling and be on road trips eventually," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "So, this can be a helpful thing in a sense. The fact he's going to play in different ballparks might give us an idea of what's going to happen during the year, and it may not. It also might be a good thing for him to go through."