Jeter defends A-Rod and his former drug problem

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TAMPA, Fla. -- Derek Jeter had a front-row seat as Alex Rodriguez conducted a news conference on Tuesday, during which the third baseman said that a cousin repeatedly injected him with performance-enhancing drugs over a three-year period.
With that admission, Rodriguez's status as the new face of baseball's so-called "Steroid Era" seems to be solidifying in the minds of many.


But one day after Rodriguez's statements echoed from a picnic tent at George M. Steinbrenner Field into coast-to-coast headlines, Jeter bristled at the idea that every big leaguer from that time period should somehow be included along with A-Rod.

"One thing that really upsets me a lot is when you hear everybody say it was the 'Steroid Era' and everybody was doing it. Well, that's not true," Jeter said on Wednesday. "Everybody wasn't doing it.

"That's the thing that gets irritating. I think it sends the wrong message to baseball fans and kids, saying that everybody was doing it. That's just not the truth."

During Rodriguez's 33-minute session, Jeter's expression rarely changed. That held true even as Rodriguez recounted how he had instructed the cousin to import the drugs from the Dominican Republic -- he called it by a street name, "boli," a likely reference to Primobolan -- and repeatedly had it injected into his body.

Jeter said on Wednesday that he was disappointed in Rodriguez's actions, but he said that the continuing thought he had during the news conference was how uncomfortable it must have been for A-Rod to submit himself to public scrutiny in that fashion.

"I know he's very, very sorry," Jeter said. "It's a difficult thing to do. Everybody makes mistakes, but it's probably pretty difficult to have to address it publicly in front of the whole country.

"We're here to support him through it. We don't condone what he did. Alex doesn't condone what he did. At this point now, it's our job to help him be as comfortable as he can on the field and try to move past this."

On the first day of full-squad workouts, Jeter played catch on the field with Rodriguez during warmups. A-Rod also received positive feedback from the fans on hand at Steinbrenner Field, and Jeter said that Rodriguez is not detached from the team.

"When you do some things, eventually the truth comes out, one way or the other," Jeter said. "That's punishment enough, especially when you're talking about everyone knowing it."

Jeter also addressed the status of his relationship with A-Rod once more.