TAMPA, Fla. — In the days that followed the release of the Mitchell Report in December 2007, I spoke with a player mentioned in the report and asked about how he was going to explain it to his kids before they heard about it at school. He said when the time was right he would tell them the whole truth. It was only fair to give them the facts.

What works at home, works at large, too. Honesty, we’ve learned, has become the only policy.

Later this afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will hold a press conference to discuss his arrival at spring training – and that other bit of news that came out recently about the man who would be king. In an interview with ESPN’s Peter Gammons shortly after Sports Illustrated broke the news about Rodriguez’s positive test for banned substances in 2003, Rodriguez came clean about not playing the game so clean. His admission may have been “loosey goosey” but it contained some of the pivotal words.

“”It’s my fault. I’m deeply sorry for it,” Rodriguez told ESPN. He also said: “I was young, I was stupid, I was naive. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance. For that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful.”

This will be the second consecutive spring for the Yankees that has opened with an admission, and it is the third time in five years that a Yankee has had to hold a press conference to address a performance-enhancing drug-related revelation. In February 2005, Jason Giambi apologized. Last spring, Andy Pettitte acknowledged the truth of his mention in the Mitchell Report. Across baseball, these admissions have become such an integral part of the steroids dance that we need a way to process them — to ascertain what works, what doesn’t, and what tosses napalm on a campfire. The Yankees, by coincidence it would seem, offer the opposite ends of such a spectrum.

There was Pettitte: “Do I think I’m a cheater? No, I don’t. Was it stupid? Yes, I was stupid. Was I desperate? Yes, I probably was.”

And then there was Roger Clemens.

Even with substantial evidence and testimonies stacked against him by the Mitchell Report and subsequent reporting by gumshoe journalists and investigators, Clemens resisted any admission of guilt. He went on a campaign against the allegations, right down to the lengthy interview with “60 Minutes”. He vehemently denied the charges. Still does. Said Clemens over and over and over again in one way or the other: “I believe Andy has misheard, Mr. Congressman, on his comment about myself using HGH, which never happened.”

The spectrum is clear:

Roger Clemens ———- No Comments ———- Andy Pettitte

Pretty much all of the comments and admissions we’ve heard over the past four years fits somewhere in that frame. Now, what it means for that player involved isn’t entirely clear. Many players mentioned in the Mitchell Report admitted shortly after it was published and resurfaced quickly in the majors. Former Cardinals catcher Gary Bennett did so and signed a little bit later with the Los Angeles Dodgers. “I was wrong, but it was my mistake,” Bennett said, “and now I have to deal with it.” Jeremy Giambi was the first active player to admit use when he told Kansas City Star baseball writer Jeff Passan that he used steroids. “It’s something I did,” he told Passan. “I apologize. I made a mistake.” Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel held a press conference in the dugout the day The New York Daily News reported that he received a shipment of HGH.

“”It’s a tough thing to deal with,” Ankiel told The Palm Beach Post this past weekend. “When it’s already out there it might be easier to (admit it and) move on. But everybody’s different.”

They are all on Pettitte’s far side of the spectrum, with Giambi arguably being even past Pettitte.

RC ———- No ———- AP …… Je. Giambi

Then there are the finger-wavers. Rafael Palmeiro and Barry Bonds would appear to be keeping Clemens company on the spectrum, with more players clustered around the No Comment category, be they Sammy Sosa in front of Congress, Jason Giambi with untethered apology, or the any number of players in front of their local media. Few have denied, denied, denied better that Clemens or Palmeiro.

RC - BB - Raf. Pal. ——– No ———- AP

RC ———- No —- Ja. Giambi —— AP

Where so many of the others player fall on the spectrum, I’ll leave to you. There’s been a lively discussion at a previous blog (La Russa’s call for a Zero Tolerance Policy) that, in part, hints at where Mark McGwire might fall on this range — and whether or not people care.

Later this evening, somewhere in the blanket coverage of Rodriguez’s first press conference since the SI report and since his ESPN admission, there will be ample debate on where Rodriguez’s admission fits. Is it closer to No Comment or does it inch him toward Pettitte. It could help determine just how far Rodriguez has to go to emerge from this era and still garner enough votes to reach Cooperstown — the further down the spectrum, the better his chances? We’ll have year to mull that question. Players are struggling like everybody else with the answer. David Ortiz said positive tests should result in a one-year ban, according to The Associated Press, and in the same article he praises Rodriguez for admitting his use and that it’s time to “put that in the past and move forward.”

According to The New York Times, a pinstriped support group is gathering for Rodriguez’s press conference today. Pettitte will be among them. A year ago he was in that chair and a year later we can see how his comments have colored how his story is presented. Under a scrutiny few players really know, Pettitte offered up some sage advice for all those who followed.

“They say the truth hurts sometimes,” Pettitte said. “But you have to get it out there. The truth will set you free.”

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