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What if A-Rod were on the Pirates?

On  Monday, the truth came out that Alex Rodriguez used steroids while on the Texas Rangers from 2001-2003.  A-Rod said he was young, stupid, and naive, and if 26 is young in baseball, then I guess he was telling the truth.  However, he also said that the pressure of his huge contract with Texas made him cry every night, crave peanut butter an ice cream, and a little fairy visited him in his dreams and told him to strengthen up unnaturally.  Well, I guess he didn't actually say that, and I suppose that stuff never actually happened.  

This made me think though, what if A-Rod were on the Pirates?  The Pirates, really the laughing stock of the MLB for a lot of years now (and also my favorite team), have low appeal, a small market, and not that much pressure to perform on the players.  If he got a contract with the Pirates in 2001, the pressure wouldn't have built up, and A-Rod would now be a squeaky clean baseball god whom everyone would love. I would assume that out of the 103 players on the steroid list with A-Rod, there are not many, if any Pirates players. I only say this because the Pirates are not good, and most of the time their players don't play very well, and well, steroids are supposed to enhance performance, therefore leading me to the conclusion that Pirates players have never even heard of steroids.

But anyway, I guess this relegates A-Rod to the league of super-steroid-star misfits, including guys named Sosa, McGwire, Clemens, and well, some guy named Bonds.  It's a shame, I like baseball, it's a great game, but now it's kind of the norm, so I guess I shall just deal.  People get all hot and bothered about Michael Phelps and his bong filled with Mary Jane, but until and if the day comes when he tells all of us that he used steroids to get his medals, which I hope he never will have to do, I will respect him. A-Rod, boy oh boy you've gone and done it.  Let's see how many home runs he hits in his career starting this season, and maybe one day he will be respected, and be considered great once again