Here's my analysis of this whole topic. Feel free to interject your thoughts.
Jason Giambi: Allegedly used steroids to gain approval from his perfectionist father. He is, by far, the player who has best recovered from having his name associated with steroids. He won the AL Comeback Player of the Year award last season. He regained sponsorship deals. To the average fan, it would seem that he has disassociated himself from the steroid stigma. One reason... he admitted using steroids.
Sammy Sosa: It seems obvious that he used some sort of performance enhancing drug. The past two seasons (where some sort of testing has been in place), his offensive production has dramatically decreased while his proneness to injury has increased to the point he has unofficially retired. However, his use of a corked bat has tainted him more than the speculation on whether or not he used steroids. I do not understand why, but he still is loved by a lot of fans.
Mark McGwire: He admitted using Andro while he was playing. Once he stopped using it, he broke down physically and retired. Now, he is a shell of his former self. He will forever be tainted and probably won't make it into the HOF due to his association with performance enhancers.
Gary Sheffield: Recent reports have him using the same stuff that Barry Bonds allegedly used. He is very associated with BALCO and steroids in general. His refusal to talk about the subject has led to even more talk about his use of performance enhancers. Whether or not he used them has yet to be proven, but as a casual observer, I say he did use something.
Barry Bonds: He can't stay out of his own way. He is constantly beligerant to the media whenever he is pressed about the subject. He constantly reminds us that he is a horse's a**, which is one of the reasons why he is taking so much heat over this issue. The other two reasons why he is taking it from everyone is 1) he's still playing and 2) he's close to running down one of the most revered records in the history of baseball. There is enough evidence, whether it is circumstantial or not, to conclude that he did use performance enhancers. As long as he keeps quiet about the subject, he will forever be guilty.
What does this all say to me? It says that if you keep quiet, you lose. If you do what Giambi did and come clean, you can move past the subject and get back in the fans' good graces. All Bonds and the others have to do is come clean.