Madonna friend A-Rod in steroids trouble

The New York Yankees baseball team has been thrown into turmoil by a report published on Saturday that their star slugger, Alex 'A-Rod' Rodriguez, whose $275m contract makes him the highest paid player in the game's history, tested positive for steroids in 2003.

If 33-year-old Rodriguez isn't the best player in the world, he's certainly the most visible. As well as batting for the Yankees, he's the man Madonna left her husband Guy Ritchie for - at a personal cost of £50m.

The steroids story was broken by Sports Illustrated which claims that four different sources have confirmed that Rodriguez tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone in tests carried out when he was playing for the Texas Rangers. 

He was one of 104 players caught by the tests which were conducted by Major League Baseball in an attempt to find out if there was a problem with cheating - indeed, in the hope that they could prove there wasn't. Those tested were promised immunity, as well as anonymity.

The MLB has issued a statement saying: "Information and documents relating to the results of the 2003 MLB testing program are both confidential and under seal by court orders. We are prohibited from confirming or denying any allegation about the test results of any particular player(s) by the collective bargaining agreement."

This leaves the Yankees with a problem - Rodriguez is signed to them for another nine years. The alleged positive result may have been a long time ago, but, asks the New York Times, "Does it really matter where it was or when, or for how long? Unless he or baseball, or both, can effectively counter another damaging blow, Rodriguez takes his place in the ever-expanding enhancement holding pen, a shadow cast across his career."
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