Strawberry on A-Rod: I would’ve juiced, too

Darryl Strawberry understands what Alex Rodriguez is going through.

On his first day at spring training this year as an instructor with the New York Mets, Strawberry said he would have been tempted to use performance-enhancing drugs in his playing days.

“In our nature, we are competitive creatures, and we have a tremendous drive and high tolerance,” Strawberry said Tuesday. “I’m not saying that was the right thing to do, but people ask me, if I was faced with it, what would I have done? If that was going on in the era of the ’80s, it probably would have been in my system, too.”

Strawberry, who will be at spring training with the Mets through March 10, hit 335 homers and had 1,000 RBIs during a 17-year career that started with the Mets in 1983 and ended with the Yankees in 1999 —- in the midst of the steroids era.

“It was late in the game,” he said. “If you would have caught me when I was 24, 25, in the middle of my career —- I was naive, stupid, just like Alex said.”

> A-Rod has hip problem: Alex Rodriguez has a new problem. Hours after Rodriguez played Tuesday for the Dominican Republic in a tuneup for the World Baseball Classic, the Yankees announced he would get his ailing hip checked by a specialist. An exam Saturday revealed a cyst in Rodriguez’s right hip. The 33-year-old slugger is scheduled to visit Dr. Marc Phillipon today in Vail, Colo.

Rodriguez’s status for the WBC was uncertain. The Dominicans’ first game is Saturday against the Netherlands in Puerto Rico.

> RED SOX: Right-hander Brad Penny was scratched from his first scheduled spring training start because of shoulder weakness, and right fielder J.D. Drew went to Boston for an injection in his lower back. Penny was to have started Thursday against Puerto Rico. He stopped a bullpen session Sunday after 25 pitches. Penny was limited to 19 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year, and just nine innings after June 14, because of the shoulder problems.

> BREWERS: Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Braden Looper will miss his second straight spring training start because of a strained oblique muscle and might not be ready for opening day.

> ATHLETICS: Nomar Garciaparra is nearing agreement on a one-year contract with Oakland. The 35-year-old infielder could finalize a deal within a few days, a person familiar with the negotiations said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the contract was not yet final. Oakland, a late player in the free-agent market, also is close to finalizing a $4 million, one-year contract with Orlando Cabrera, who would displace former AL Rookie of the Year Bobby Crosby as the team’s starting shortstop. The A’s made no public comment on the ongoing talks. Both deals could be finalized later this week. In other A’s news, right-hander Justin Duchscherer was scheduled to see a doctor Tuesday to have his sore right elbow examined. The two-time All-Star, the Athletics’ projected opening-day starter, began experiencing tightness in the elbow two weeks into spring training.