Alex Rodriguez’s claim about stopping the use of steroids after 2003 is already being shot full of holes.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, A-Rod has had a long relationship with a man named Angel Presinal, a trainer who has been banned from private areas of every MLB ballpark for being linked to steroids. Apparently Presinal roomed with A-Rod’s now famous cousin, Yuri Sucart, at every hotel Rodriguez went to in 2007. The report also states that Presinal wasn’t around A-Rod in 2008, although Sucart “remained a constant presence.”

In his press conference on Monday, A-Rod claimed that he and Sucart injected each other with steroids in the Dominican Republic from 2001 to 2003. While that might have been the case, the question now becomes: Where did Rodriguez and Sucart get the steroids? And if A-Rod claims he’s been off performance-enhancers since 2003, why would he continue a relationship with Presinal up until 2007? (Assuming the report is true, of course.)

I’m naïve to how athletes go about things when they travel in-season, but I’d have to imagine that not even the best of friends are staying with players at every single hotel like Presinal did in 2007. Again, why did Rodriguez remain close with Presinal after his claimed use of steroids from 2001 to 2003? It’s hard to imagine that a steroid-linked trainer was staying at the same hotel as A-Rod just to fluff his pillows and make sure he had enough clean towels in the bathroom.

If the Daily News report is true, then A-Rod is still lying and there’s a good chance that he took steroids while a member of the Yankees. And this BS that he took roids because he was “young and naïve” doesn’t hold water either (not that it ever did). You don’t seek the help of a steroid-linked trainer if you’re just trying stuff on a whim with your cousin in the DR. Rodriguez knew he wanted to take performance-enhancers, knew who could supply them and reached out to Presinal. It looks like Sucart was just A-Rod’s smokescreen for Presinal, but it didn’t take long for that story to unravel.

Not that he will at this point, but A-Rod needs to stop taking everyone for a ride and admit the truth. He took steroids because he was making a lot of money, wanted to live up to the new contract and wanted to perform at an elite level. Sports are a performance-based world. Clearly Rodriguez wasn’t confident in his abilities (which is freaking unfathomable when you think about it) and sought the use of enhancers. That’s it. He did it to remain the best and so he could continue to make an absurd amount of money. He wasn’t naïve – he knew what he was doing the entire time. And with this report, there’s a great chance that someone will prove that he took steroids long past 2003.

This report is only the smoking gun. More is sure to follow because the New York media has only started to dig into this story. A-Rod better hold onto his nuts because everything he’s ever said and done over the past six years is going to come out. Suspension is the last thing that he should be worried about right now.