So Alex Rodriguez wants us to believe his side of the story, you know, because he doesn't want to lose his image as baseball's model citizen known for working hard and being as professional as they come.

I think we can all agree that priviledge has gone out the window.

Pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training, and the rest of the players have joined them by now. This should be the most exciting part of the year for fans and especially fantasy owners, who could be less than a month away from constructing their teams for the next six months.

But this season, there has been a lot of talk about juicing instead of statistics, fun predictions and all the great things that make these final weeks of winter somewhat bearable.

Isn't great to know the fantasy portion of baseball provides us with an escape?

What's interesting about fantasy baseball and the steroids is that your rarely see writers tie the two together.

If you came in second to a team that drafted Bonds in 2001, when he hit 73 homers instead of his usual 40, wouldn't you feel robbed?

Sadly, steroids leaked into fantasy because owners feed off what players do. It's the lone common denominator in the fantasy world.

What about now, though? That age has passed and here we are, all set for a new season with high hopes, and we don't worry about the feds, lying, cover ups, making sure our cousins go along with our story or constant speculation like the real baseball world is doing now.

For us, it's just baseball.

On our side of the fence, it turns out the grass is a lot greener right now.

Good for us.

Speaking of steroids, reputations and fantasy, how about a portion of mockdraftcentral.com's newsletter this week?

Geoffrey Stein writes, "There`s a new No. 2 in MDC`s Average Draft Position (ADP) report, after St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols gained 3.7 percent of value and scooted past New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez who lost 7.8 percent of value.

With a .08 percent difference in ADP, it wouldn`t be a surprise to see Rodriguez return to No. 2 overall after things quiet down on the performance-enhancing drug front.

Then again, it also wouldn`t be a surprise to see him fall further down cheat sheets, though there`s a good amount of distance between him and No. 4 overall, New York Mets third baseman David Wright."

I wonder if this is going to develop into a trend...

Charlie Saponara has a good opinion on steroids and fantasy - because the era is over, the game is changing and we must adapt.

In his February 9 posting on fantasybaseball365.com, he writes, "It is simply another addition to the long list of reasons why the game was different during that era and why a new era (or somewhat of a return to an older one) is upon us.  We may never again see a fantasy beast like Barry Bonds was during his reign at number one.

"What we are seeing is a group of exciting young players that create a market that contains less guys who can simply "carry a team", but do create a greater need for team balance, much like in real baseball."

Tim Dierkes of rotoauthority.com also has an interesting theory on the A-Rod mess.