ESPN Buster Olney Blog

On Tuesday, Alex Rodriguez offered up far more detail than Andy Pettitte and more substance than Jason Giambi, and he went way beyond where either Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds went, in discussing his use of performance-enhancing drugs. He talked about when and why and where and how, stuff nobody else in his position has talked about. He blamed himself.

And yet, if information comes out that undercuts Rodriguez's latest version of the truth, well, all bets are off about where this might end up. The commissioner will go nuts, somebody in Congress might decide it's time for a subpoena and some law enforcement official might decide to poke around in Rodriguez's background, plowing in the wake of the reporting by Selena Roberts.

There were some leftover threads when Tuesday's news conference was over. What about the reported positive test for testosterone, which Rodriguez has not yet addressed specifically? What about his cousin -- what's his story? Why were there a lot of inconsistencies between what Rodriguez told Peter Gammons on Feb. 9 and what he said to reporters Tuesday?

It might be that there are legitimate answers to all those questions. But if there is more -- if it's proven that A-Rod hasn't told the truth -- the army of teammates who stood at the side of the tent won't be able to help him. Nobody will. His quest to regain trust will be finished. His credibility, already at a low ebb, will be destroyed forever. The word "lie" will accompany the word "steroids" in the first two paragraphs of his obituary.

Rodriguez said at the end of the news conference that he wants to be judged on what he does from Tuesday forward -- but that can happen only if more damaging information about more performance-enhancing drugs in the past doesn't surface.

So there will be an uneasiness in the Yankees' organization in the days ahead as club officials brace for what might be. This situation is out of their control now. They encouraged Rodriguez to be completely truthful, and on Tuesday he presented a lot of specific information. Whether that information stands remains to be seen, and for now the Yankees are left to try to bolster their third baseman as he prepares for the start of the season.

"What he did was wrong," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in a phone interview. "It's our job to make the best of this situation. If you think of it like Humpty Dumpty -- Humpty Dumpty fell off a wall, and it's our job to put it back together again."

Roberts' book will come out in the spring, and undoubtedly there were reporters working diligently Tuesday night, digging into the connection with the cousin; I'll be shocked if the cousin's picture is not on the front page of the New York Daily News or the New York Post by Thursday morning at the latest. And each and every day, the Yankees will be left to hope that the information presented by Rodriguez was generally complete. "The bottom line is this -- I have no idea," said one official in Major League Baseball. "Only Alex probably knows for sure. I hope to God he's telling the truth."

If he has told the truth, he can move on with a lighter burden and go about the business of resuming his career. His legacy never will be fully restored, but he will have at least nine years to take strides as a player to earn back trust, as he said. If he has told the truth, he can live with the knowledge that he has done about as well as he can under the current circumstances.

If it turns out he hasn't told the truth -- despite having his chances to come clean, despite knowing all the risks, despite knowing what a lightning rod he is -- this will become baseball's version of Watergate, in which the cover-up turns out to be worse than the crime. If he hasn't told the truth, we'll be left to wonder why he didn't simply choose the path of Pettitte and Giambi and generally acknowledge wrong-doing.

We would be left to wonder whether Rodriguez instead took a path that runs parallel to that of Roger Clemens, without the same legal risks -- so far -- but driven by the same desire to protect the specter of his accomplishments.

McGwire said he didn't want to talk about the past, Bonds says he didn't knowingly take steroids, the union leaders aren't taking blame for what happened with the 2003 survey test results, Giambi apologized but wouldn't say what for, Pettitte says he used performance-enhancing drugs just a couple of times, the commissioner says he doesn't think there's anything he could have or would have done differently in the time that the use of steroids exploded.

If it turns out Rodriguez lied, he will be the latest to fail to be honest, within baseball's culture of unaccountability.

Steroids experts don't believe A-Rod's story, write Michael O'Keeffe, Teri Thomspon and Nathaniel Vinton.

A-Rod must think we're all fools, writes Mike Vaccaro.

Maybe A-Rod can make a difference on the issue of performance-enhancing drugs, writes George Vecsey. Don Hooton feels he has had good conversations with A-Rod.

A-Rod needs a dose of reality, writes Mike Lupica.

In truth, A-Rod wasn't young and was never dumb, writes John Harper.

A-Rod is afraid of the truth, writes Bob Klapisch.

A-Rod's story is full of holes, writes Jim Baumbach.

Raul Ibanez wonders why A-Rod would do it.

Hal Steinbrenner stands by his man, writes Kat O'Brien.

Jorge Posada got up and walked out in the middle of Rodriguez's news conference, Jack Curry writes in this piece; the Yankees were not sure why.