'A-Fraud' tested positive for steroids in 2003

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Alright, by now I'm sure most of you have heard that New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez used steroids.

Sports Illustrated broke the story on Saturday, and everyone has been giving their opinions on the matter. I've been trying to avoid sports stories for this blog, but I figure this is too big of a deal to let pass by.

In 2003, the year he tested positive, steroids were banned in baseball but there was no penalty for using them. The over 1,000 tests taken were basically a survey by Major League Baseball to see if random testing with penalties was merited. 104 players were found to have steroids in their system, so baseball implemented new rules and punishments in 2004.

According to the SI report, A-Rod was one of these players. The records were supposed to be confidential, but there is nothing private in sports, and his name leaked out.

As a disclaimer, I'll tell you that I'm a huge Red Sox fan. Anything that can be used to laugh at the Yankees is great fun for me. I've never seen Rodriguez as a true Yankee; he seems to be more of an expensive rental.

Even still, I don't think he should be punished for what he did in 2003. He might have broke the rules, but there was no punishment set at the time, and if they went back and retroactively penalized everyone who used the "juice," the MLB would be a mess.

The most interesting part of this story for me is mentioned later in the article:

In September 2004, Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' union, violated an agreement with MLB by tipping off a player (not named in the report) about an upcoming, supposedly unannounced drug test. Three major league players who spoke to SI said that Rodriguez was also tipped by Orza in early September 2004 that he would be tested later that month.

If A-Rod had stopped taking steroids when penalties were in place, why would he need to be tipped off? This is the bigger story than the fact that he took steroids the year before. Even if he didn't test positive in 2004, this illegal tip could put those test results in doubt. Random tests aren't very effective if the players know they are coming. The type of steroid Rodriguez took in 2003 was popular for the short span of time it stayed in the system. It is detectable for a shorter period of time than most steroids.

Whether or not more comes from this story, you can bet he's going to hear chants of "A-Roid" every time he comes to Fenway.