A-Rod is a Weasel (but he might have one point)

I feel like piling on.

At his press conference earlier this week, concerning his failed drug test from 2003, Alex Rodriguez attempted to achieve the self-contradictory goal of admitting a grave wrongdoing while implying he did very little wrong. This was a chance for him to gain a modicum of public respect by simply saying what everybody already knows. It would have taken three sentences.

"From 2001 to 2003, while a member of the Texas Rangers, I routinely injected myself with a steroid, because I thought it would help me be a better player. I knew that this substance was almost certainly on baseball's banned list, but I took it anyway because improving my game was more important than respecting the rules. I am only before you now admitting this because I got caught and I'd rather come away from this ordeal looking like Andy Pettitte than Roger Clemens."

But instead he used weasel words (this is an actual term) . He Bushed-it. He tried to claim youthful ignorance for stupid things he did when he wasn't young. In 2001 A-Rod turned 26, in 2003 he turned 28 (not 24-25 as he said during the press conference, by the way). I'm not sure when the cut off is for youthful ignorance, but it is way before 26. If he were 15 or 16, okay. Maybe even 19 or 20, but 26? Give me a break. (Although he's not as bad as Dubya who used it as an excuse for things he did in his mid-30s.)

He was evasive. When asked if he considered what he did to be cheating he said, "That's not for me to decide..." Actually, A-Rod, it's exactly for you to decide. In fact, you are the only person in the entire world who can decide this.

But, A-Rod might have one point. He claimed during his interview with Peter Gammons, that his best years were when he was not on steroids, specifically he cited his 1996 and 2007 years. In fact, in terms of runs created per game his best three years were 2007, 2005 and 1996. In terms of adjusted batting runs (like runs created, but adjusted for park and league factors and considered relative to league average), his two best years were 2007 and 2005, by far. Overall, his runs created per season with Seattle, Texas and New York were 8.14, 8.97, and 8.58, respectively, while his adjusted batting runs per season were 37.54, 51.26, and 55.44, respectively (the lower mark from his Seattle years is due in part to missing time due to injury). So, if you believe that A-Rod is being honest about the time frame of his steroid use then it's pretty clear that they did not help his performance much, if at all. He's been equally awesome throughout his career, at least on the field. During press conferences he's embarrassingly bad.