Of all the narratives the Steroid Era left in its wake, none was messier or more complicated than Alex Rodriguez's. It was a tale of lies and revenge, as politically savage as Game of Thrones. But after the rise and fall of a great slugger, there's a third act in the making.

How it turns out—whether A-Rod's reputation can ever be fully laundered—remains an open question.

It'll be another two years before Rodriguez is eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022. That'll be his first litmus test. His three MVPs, 14 All-Star Game appearances and 10 Silver Slugger Awards will be discussed and debated.

But his interim game plan is already apparent, including a full apology tour, diligent work as a Fox analyst and all those gossip-page photo ops with fiancee Jennifer Lopez. Give A-Rod credit for this much: He's trying.

The Yankees have made superficial peace with Rodriguez, hiring him in 2018 as a special adviser to general manager Brian Cashman. The winds of war have been stilled. But some wounds take longer to heal than others. Rodriguez's history of blaming his enemies complicates the path to redemption.

Of all A-Rod's transgressions—and there were plenty—none were as spiteful as the legal action taken against Christopher Ahmad, the Yankees' team physician. The slugger accused Ahmad of overlooking a labral tear in his left hip during an examination in October 2012.

Not that Rodriguez was aware of the injury. He came to Ahmad about an ache in his right hip after going 3-for-25 with no extra-base hits and 12 strikeouts in the 2012 postseason. Rodriguez alleged the doctor should have alerted him to the unrelated injury on the other side.

To which one Yankees official told ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews, "[Rodriguez] blames Dr. Ahmad for missing his hip injury? He missed his own hip injury."

Yet, it was all part of A-Rod's victimization campaign, convincing the world that Ahmad, then-commissioner Bud Selig and even the Players Association were conspiring in a witch hunt during the investigation of the Biogenesis doping lab. Each party was named in subsequent lawsuits.

Although the Yankees themselves were not targeted, they were nevertheless appalled at the attempt to ruin their doctor's reputation. "Chris is a medical genius; his credentials speak for themselves," said a member of the organization to B/R.

Ahmad, 52, is a clinical orthopedic surgery professor at Columbia University as well as a New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center orthopedic surgeon. According to his Wikipedia page, he has authored more than 100 articles and book chapters on sports medicine and surgery. He has lectured nationally and internationally.

Rodriguez would eventually make amends across the board, dropping the malpractice suit against Ahmad last. He hasn't publicly apologized to the doctor to this day.

What could've motivated Rodriguez to embark on that scorched-earth policy? Bad advice from short-sighted advisers.

"You have to understand one thing about Alex: He's actually a naive, gullible guy who believes the last thing he's been told," said one friend of A-Rod to B/R. "He's not a terrible person. He can actually be a good guy. But he was hearing the wrong thing [in 2013] from people who kept saying, 'They're screwing you, Alex. Make them pay.'"

The insistence that he never did steroids will be problematic for A-Rod as the first Cooperstown ballot approaches. Not that he cheated, just that he refused to confess until after he got caught. Yet, there's still a path for induction—if not in 2022 or 2023, then in the years beyond.

Younger voters will eventually outnumber the older generation—for whom steroid users are viewed as banned for life by many. Still, this won't be an overnight process. Rodriguez is highly unlikely to be voted in on his first year of eligibility. But don't be surprised to see a gradual shift, one that eventually inches above the 75 percent threshold—even if it's the 10th and final year of eligibility. Especially if he continues on his current path of media darling.

Rodriguez seems to get that. As rehearsed as his apologies undoubtedly are, he's clearly been humiliated. That's what's separated him from other elite athletes—the search for acceptance. Unlike Derek Jeter, who could be ice-cold, Rodriguez was on the other end of the spectrum. He was as vain and insecure as an aging Hollywood star.

You could call it a character flaw that explains his need to still be seen hanging out with A-listers. Yet, at his core, A-Rod is eager to please and passionate. That's part of what makes him an engaging TV personality. He has proved to be a student of the game and somebody who clearly puts in the work to be prepared for each broadcast.

However, it may have been Rodriguez's obsession with baseball and its history that ended up being his demise. At some point A-Rod made up his mind that he wanted to be one of the best players ever, and with that came the shortcut to reaching the goal: performance-enhancing drugs.

With the help of steroids, A-Rod had everything in place to reach Cooperstown.

He never considered the ramifications of getting busted and that he was talented enough without help. Rodriguez was on track for the Hall almost the day he debuted as an 18-year-old shortstop with the Mariners in 1994. A 20-year-old Rodriguez had a career-high .358 batting average to go along with 36 home runs and 123 RBI during his first full season in 1996. He was not a late bloomer.

If you ask A-Rod today whether he'd play clean if given the chance to do it again? He'd obviously say yes, and I'd believe that. But the enduring question is whether Rodriguez's 696 career home runs and 3,115 hits were inflated by drugs—and if so, by how much.

It's an unanswerable question.

Luckily for A-Rod, no one has to make that call yet. Time is on his side.

Catch Up on B/R's Steroid Week:

Monday: McGwire vs. Sosa in '98

Tuesday: Will Bonds' Records Ever Be Broken?

Wednesday: Most Ridiculous Seasons of Steroid Era

Thursday: How A-Rod Survived Steroid Hell

Friday: Which Steroid Users* Should Be in HOF?