Houston Astros: Alex Rodriguez’s advice from his own bitter experience

After learning the hard way about changing the narrative when caught doing wrong, Rodriguez says the Houston Astros haven’t learned yet.

Among all the players and former players having their Astrogate say, it’s tough to determine whether Alex Rodriguez was one of the less likely. He may be one of the more jarring, considering how simple it is to see his weigh-in as CBS Sports‘ Mike Axisa does, writing, “He is perhaps the most infamous cheater in baseball history, so this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.”

Rodriguez probably knew it going in when he decided to let the Houston Astros have it on Tuesday afternoon, while working aboard ESPN’s broadcast of an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. But he probably also knew that sometimes the pot’s learned the hard way and has something profound enough to say about it:

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"You cheat, you win a championship, there is no suspension, and then there’s no remorse. The last one is probably the worst one. People want to see remorse, they want a real authentic apology, and they have not seen that thus far. From a guy who has made as many mistakes as anybody on the biggest stage—I served the longest suspension in major league baseball history, it cost me well over $35 million, and you know what? I deserved that. I came back. I owned it after acting like a buffoon for a long time. I had my apologies, and then I went dark. And I wanted my next move to be contrite, but I also wanted to try to go out and play good baseball, and change my narrative. And the way you change your narrative is, you have to be accountable. You’ve earned all this negative talk. You’ve earned whatever comes your way, including whether it’s hit by a pitch or negative press, you have divorced yourself from having the ability to protect yourself . . . I felt the hatred from the people and I earned it."

Even Axisa knows A-Rod didn’t just shoot from the lip, however unprompted was his commentary. “Once he returned from his suspension, he did own it, he did apologize, and he did try to change the narrative,” Axisa writes. “Many fans didn’t forgive Rodriguez and never will, but he made an effort to be contrite. The Astros have been anything but. They’ve been combative if anything.”