Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who sat out the 2014 season following accusations that he used performance-enhancing drugs, apologized to fans in a handwritten letter released by his representatives Tuesday.
Rodriguez wrote that he was offered a chance to apologize publicly at Yankee Stadium, but declined. He prefers to be “doing my job” and playing baseball next time he walks onto the field.
“I take full responsibility for the mistakes that led to my suspension for the 2014 season,” A-Rod wrote in the letter. “I regret that my actions made the situation worse than it needed to be.”
Having served his suspension, the team has indicated that the next step is for Rodriguez to get back in the game, he wrote.
“I’m ready to put this chapter behind me and play some ball,” he said.
The suspension originally was longer — 211 games — as Major League Baseball accused him of taking performance-enhancing drugs and having ties to the now-shuttered Biogenesis clinic in South Florida. Rodriguez’s suspension was reduced by an arbitrator last year.
Anthony Bosch, the founder and owner of the Biogenesis clinic, was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday.
“The sentence imposed today on Anthony Bosch … serves as a reminder that illegally administering testosterone and other dangerous substances to our community’s high school athletes and others is a crime,” U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said. “The message is clear: Cheating doesn’t pay and individuals like Bosch, who distribute performance enhancing drugs to athletes and, more importantly, to our children, will be held accountable for their actions.”
He had been charged with conspiracy to distribute illegal steroids. Authorities said Bosch and his associates distributed the drugs to minors who attended a number of public and private high schools in South Florida. They also did so in the Dominican Republic, a baseball hot spot, authorities said.