Yankees boss critical of Rodriguez''s drugs explanation

By Larry Fine

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman criticized Alex Rodriguez''s explanation for using performance-enhancing drugs on Tuesday.

"I like the fact more when he says he was stupid, not young and naive," Cashman told a group of reporters when asked to assess Rodriguez''s remarks.

Earlier, baseball''s highest paid player told a packed news conference of around 200 reporters at the Yankees training facility that he and his cousin began taking the drugs in 2001.

"My cousin would administer it to me but neither of us knew how to use it properly, proving just how ignorant we both were," Rodriguez said as he sat alongside Cashman and Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

Cashman said Rodriguez''s decision to use the drugs when he played for the Texas Rangers from 2001-03 was "stupid."

"It was a bad decision that may cost him on so many levels," said Cashman.

"He''s dealing with it, he''s forced to deal with it. He''s suffering, the game is suffering, the Yankees are suffering."

Cashman said Rodriguez could have been more explicit about why he took the drugs.

"The one thing he could have said was the fact he chose to do this to make himself better ... at what he does on the baseball field," Cashman said. "That''s the truth.

"I don''t think Alex is very good at communicating ... whether it''s about talking about your game and the impact you had on it after hitting a home run or if he had a tough game at the park, let the team down.

"Anybody that''s been in that clubhouse when he''s trying to talk about success or failure on the baseball diamond knows that is something he is not very good at."

IMPORTANT LESSON

Despite his criticisms, Cashman thought that having to face up to his sins provided an important lesson to Rodriguez''s peers.

"When they see a fallen star that has to deal with this fallout, that''s the biggest prevention that''s out there," he said.

"Their reputation is shattered. That''s a huge deterrent."  Continued...