Now he carries the stigma of steroid cheat, that his whole power production is a fraud. He committed the 2003 infraction reported by SI as a Ranger. But this is not going to be a Rangers story. Rodriguez is a Yankee. He is in their midst. He is their constant distraction. He already was the guy who placed so much unnecessary tension in the locker room, and here comes more.

There will be a defense mounted. One of his friends, for example, said Saturday that Rodriguez had not failed a test at either the 2006 World Baseball Classic, which used Olympic-level testing, or since Major League Baseball instituted random testing and suspensions for failing tests in 2004.

Rodriguez won the MVP as a Yankee in 2005 and 2007, just as he did in the now disputed year of 2003.

"I think it shows that during a very clear testing period, he performed clean and sustained the same high level," the A-Rod friend said.

It is a nice try. It is not going to work. This is Alex Rodriguez.

Everything negative sticks to him. And he is a black hole as a person, sucking all life in a clubhouse through his needy, greedy character. The Yankees knew that when he was out. They stupidly let him back in.

Let the regret continue.

New York Yankees News News » Yankees have to regret keeping A-Rod now
Yankees have to regret keeping A-Rod now
They were out. That is what the Yankees will always regret. Fifteen months ago, they were out from Alex Rodriguez. He had famously — and crudely, of course — opted out of the final three years of his first 10-year contract. He did so during the clinching game of the 2007 World Series. As if the Yankees needed more evidence why they should not reunite with the ultra-talented, but ultimately ego-deranged star, there it was: Rodriguez prioritizing his money grab over the good of the game — and common decency. More from the New York Post