Report: A-Rod tested positive in 2003

[hwbs]

ESPN.com news services

According to a report by Sports Illustrated, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003, when he was with the Texas Rangers and won the AL home run title and MVP award.

According to the report, which was posted Saturday morning on SI.com, sources told the publication that Rodriguez was on a list of 104 players who tested positive that year, when Major League Baseball conducted survey tests to see if mandatory, random drug-testing was needed.

Sources who know about the testing results told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan, an anabolic steroid.

In 2003, there were no penalties for a positive result


Rodriguez, reached at a Miami gym Thursday for comment by Sports Illustrated, said: "You'll have to talk to the union."

Asked if there were an explanation for the positive test result, Rodriguez told SI: "I'm not saying anything."

Sources confirmed to ESPN's T.J. Quinn that Rodriguez was aware he tested positive for steroids in 2003.

Primobolan, also known as methenolone, is an injected or orally administered drug. It improves strength and maintains lean muscle with minimal bulk development and few side effects. It is not an approved prescription drug in the United States. Testosterone can be taken legally with a prescription.

In a December 2007 interview with "60 Minutes," however, three days after George Mitchell's report on drugs in the sport was released, Rodriguez denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

"I've never felt overmatched on the baseball field. ... I felt that if I did my, my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn't have a problem competing at any level," he said on "60 Minutes."

Scott Boras, Rodriguez's agent, did not immediately return calls from ESPN.com seeking comment.

Both the Yankees and the Rangers told ESPN they would not comment.

Michael Weiner, general counsel for the players' union, declined to comment, and said he did not know if the union would have any comment Saturday.

Major League Baseball said it was "disturbed" by the report, but did not elaborate because of player confidentiality.

"Because the survey testing that took place in 2003 was intended to be nondisciplinary and anonymous, we cannot make any comment on the accuracy of this report as it pertains to the player named," MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred said.

Survey testing was created in 2003, in an agreement with the MLBPA, to see if mandatory testing and penalties were necessary to be implemented in 2004 -- it also was specifically designed to ensure players would not be identified.

The actual samples were kept in one lab in Las Vegas and had codes, not players' names. A list with the names and corresponding codes were in an office in Long Beach, Calif., and were never supposed to be united.

MLB and the union had a deal with the company that any negative samples were to be automatically destroyed after 30 days.

However, because of the current Barry Bonds investigation and the evidence the government is seeking to present in his current perjury case, it is now known that samples were not destroyed. It had been previously reported that Bonds did not test positive in 2003, but the government found the sample when all were seized, and had tested it.

According to court documents unsealed by a federal judge on Wednesday, Bonds tested positive three times for methenolone.

More than 5 percent of players in the majors tested positive for performance-enhancing substances in the '03 survey, and mandatory testing was implemented -- including provisions for penalties -- in 2004.

Even if Major League Baseball were to confirm that Rodriguez was one of the players to test positive in 2003, he would not be subject to any sort of discipline based on that testing.

However, if information emerges about positive tests from 2004 on, circumstances could change. There have been players connected with HGH purchases from 2004 and forward, for example, who have been subject to discipline by the commissioner's office.

"I think in the climate that we have today, you don't have much shock anymore," Rangers senior adviser John Hart said on the MLB Network. Hart was the general manager during the 2003 season. "Obviously Alex probably is the best player in baseball. This has always been a special talent and the guy has been putting up Hall of Fame numbers since the day he showed up in the big leagues. It saddens me. I've been in the game for almost 40 years and it hurts a little bit, if in fact this is true."

Rodriguez played for the Rangers from 2001 to 2003. He was traded to the Yankees in 2004. He is drawing a major league-high $27 million salary after signing a record $275 million, 10-year contract with New York in 2007.

Rodriguez until now has had an offseason dominated by talk of disclosures in Joe Torre's recently released book. The former Yankee manager wrote of the pressure A-Rod puts on himself and the third baseman's need to command the stage. Torre said some in the Yankees clubhouse referred to Rodriguez as "A-Fraud," although Torre made light of that during interviews promoting his book, "The Yankee Years."

"Alex is a great kid, he's got a conscience and loves the game of baseball," Hart said on the MLB Network. "I think, if anything, Alex tries to be a pleaser in a lot of ways. Looking up at what he's done and his career, I think it's going to affect him. He has the ability at times to tune it out, but he's in a huge media market there in New York.

"It's going to be a huge story, spring training is right around the corner, and you know what's going to happen when you show up at camp. I think it's going to be a little bit of an issue."

Information from The Associated Press, ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick, ESPN The Magazine senior writer Buster Olney, and ESPN's T.J. Quinn was used in this report.

[Odelay]

Cheater cheater pumpkin eater.

The guy cheated on his wife at least once with a hooker in Toronto and once with Madonna. Madonna???

The guy attempted to cheat in that game 7 of the ALCS vs the Red Sox where he purposively tried knocking the ball out of the 1st baseman's mitt as he ran down the baseline, for which he was called out for interference. Later, as he was explaining it to his coaches and teammates he acted like his arm movements were the natural ones of running hard, while the slo mo replay showed him clearly reaching out and trying to swat the ball out of the mitt.

And now it turns out he cheated on his performance with steroids.

I watched his first 7 seasons in Seattle (1994 to 2000) which were brilliant. So all I can say is what a waste. Hope he enjoys all the added boos and heckling... the worst of which will come from his hometown NYC fans.

[celticgrafix]

damn who hasnt used steriods in the mlb

[celticgrafix]

haha, he finally admitted it, another bites the dust