Yankees boss critical of Rodriguez's drugs explanation

"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."

Rodriguez, on pace to break Major League Baseball's all-time home run record, said he had accepted an invitation from the Taylor Hooton Foundation for Fighting Steroid Abuse to help their educational efforts among young people.

The foundation was formed in memory of Taylor E. Hooton, a 17-year-old high school athlete from Plano, Texas, who took his own life in 2003 as a result of abusing anabolic steroids.