HOUSTON -- A tearful and seemingly contrite Miguel Tejada offered an apology to a packed room of reporters at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday, expressing remorse for his actions that led to his appearance in a U.S. District Court in Washington earlier that day.

"I apologize," Tejada said. "I know it was a mistake. I take responsibility. I am very sorry this happened. I'm sorry to my family, to Congress, to the Houston Astros and to the Major Leagues."

Tejada, fighting back tears, paused in an effort to gather himself before continuing.

"I apologize to the fans of baseball. I apologize to the whole United States, because this country gave me the opportunity to be who I am.

"I am sorry for what just happened."

Tejada then broke down, and those were his final comments at a news conference that began with an introductory statement from his lawyer, Mark Tuohey. Reporters were not permitted to ask questions.

Tejada pleaded guilty to lying to congressional staffers about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. He was not charged with lying about allegations concerning his own steroid use; rather, prosecutors accused Tejada of giving false statements about his conversations with another player, former Athletics teammate Adam Piatt, about steroids and human growth hormone.

Tejada will be sentenced on March 26, while the Astros are at Spring Training in Kissimmee, Fla. The date, a scheduled day off for the Astros, was picked specifically so that Tejada could go to Washington without missing a day's activities with his team.

Tejada still plans to participate in the World Baseball Classic in March. He is on the Dominican Republic's provisional roster.

The maximum sentence for this misdemeanor offense could be one year in prison, but as Tuohey explained, Tejada's previously clean record should provoke a significantly lighter sentence.

"The federal sentencing guidelines, enacted by Congress some years ago, have a major influence on the sentence that is available and recommended, based on the nature of events," Tuohey said. "In this case ... those guidelines which both sides recommend be followed, call for a sentence which in effect is probation, zero to six [months].

"The government agrees that Mr. Tejada should be treated to the low end of the guidelines, given his background and the nature of his offense."

Tuohey emphasized this case is a "stand alone," completely unrelated to any other ongoing investigations regarding baseball players and performance-enhancing drugs. Currently, former Astros pitcher Roger Clemens is being investigated for possibly lying under oath about his involvement with performance enhancing drugs. Barry Bonds is scheduled to go to trial next month for allegedly committing perjury and obstruction of justice.

"There are no allegations of use of performance-enhancing drugs by Mr. Tejada," Tuohey said. "The only allegations and the only relative facts that they found dealt with Mr. Tejada's failure to state that a player [Piatt] told him he used steroids."

Tuohey also addressed the immigration angle of this saga. Tejada, who lives in Florida but is a citizen of the Dominican Republic, could run into visa problems, even if he is given probation by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Immigration law is treated separately, and the district court will have no influence over what action, if any, will be taken by immigration authorities.

"We have discussed the matter with immigration authorities," Tuohey said. "We have carefully reviewed the standards for the various elements of immigration. Mr. Tejada will be a very proud citizen of this country before long, and nothing that has happened is going to prevent that. Because of the nature of the offense -- it is considered a petty offense -- it should not have any affect on his immigration status."

General manager Ed Wade indicated he wasn't worried about coming up with a contingency plan in case the team has to be without Tejada's services for part or all of 2009.

"We've got other shortstops in camp," Wade said. "As was the case a year ago and every day during the season, at different points when this question came up, we fully expect Miguel to be our shortstop."

Tuohey and Tejada met with club owner Drayton McLane, president Tal Smith and Wade on Saturday, prior to McLane's departure to Portugal for a business trip.

According to Wade, Tejada had pushed for the meeting, wishing to meet face-to-face with his employers before heading to court on Wednesday. During the meeting, Tuohey briefed the Astros trio on what would likely happen during Tejada's trial.

"Mark, at that time, was very confident in regard to how it will be resolved," Wade said. "Obviously, there's steps left to be taken. But his opinion hasn't been contradicted by anybody of authority at this point. Miguel will be ready to be on the field."

Wade added that he fully supports Tejada while acknowledging baseball has been tested of late.

"This has been a tough week for baseball and for sports in general," Wade said. "We're finding out that it takes a long time for lies to dissipate and sins to disappear.

"We're going through stuff that took place years ago, and I'm glad we have a testing program in place now. There's still a legacy that we need to deal with and get back to the point where our fans respect our game and understand that everything is on the up and up. I think we took a big step forward today."

The allegations against Tejada go back to 2005, when Tejada's former teammate, Rafael Palmeiro, attributed a positive steroid test on a vitamin B-12 injection allegedly administered to him by Tejada. Palmeiro gave that testimony while under investigation by the House Committee for possibly lying under oath about using performance-enhancing drugs.

No charges we brought against Palmeiro, because the Committee couldn't find enough evidence to do so, although Tejada admitted during the investigation that he provided B-12, believed by some to be a steroid masker, to Palmeiro and two other unidentified Orioles players.

In August of that same year, Tejada denied having used performance-enhancing drugs and said he was not aware of steroid use by others in baseball.

But the Mitchell Report, released in December of 2007, suggested something far different. In the report, former Senator George Mitchell said that Piatt, a teammate of Tejada's when they played with the Athletics, recalled providing steroids, testosterone and human growth hormone to Tejada in 2003.

Piatt gave Mitchell cancelled checks from transactions he had with Tejada for a total of $6,300. A $3,200 check from Tejada to Piatt dated March 21, 2003.