A-Rod linked to banned trainer

Feb 20, 2009 - 8:33 PM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Alex Rodriguez has been linked with a personal trainer cited in the Mitchell Report, the New York Daily News reported Friday.

Angel Presinal, who was banned from private areas of every major league ballpark after an October 2001 incident involving an unmarked gym bag full of steroids, has been tight with the New York Yankees star dating to his time with the Texas Rangers from 2001-03, the newspaper reported.

Presinal, whose named surfaced in the Mitchell Report, also was reportedly with Rodriguez in New York and Miami as recently as this past fall. However, Presinal was not around A-Rod during the 2008 season.

Major League Baseball has warned players to stay away from Presinal, who has been thrown out of clubhouses in Cleveland, Anaheim and Texas.

"He's an unsavory character," a source told the Daily News.

The Daily News reported Presinal accompanied A-Rod for the entire 2007 season, staying in the same hotel as Rodriguez, but in a separate room with the "cousin" Rodriguez pegged on Tuesday as his steroid source from 2001-03.

Rodriguez's cousin was identified Thursday as Yuri Sucart.

During his news conference Tuesday, Rodriguez said a cousin injected him with "boli," or Primobolan, a drug obtained in the Dominican that Rodriguez believes led to a positive steroids test in baseball's anonymous 2003 survey.

Presinal turned up in the Mitchell Report, released in December 2007, for an incident at a Toronto airport involving Juan Gonzalez, who was playing for the Cleveland Indians at the time.

Law enforcement conducting a luggage search discovered steroids, syringes, and clenbuterol in an unmarked duffel bag that Presinal said belonged to Gonzalez.

Rodriguez's agent Scott Boras would not comment on his client's relationship with Presinal, who runs a gym at the Palacio del los Deportes in Santo Domingo.

ESPN 1050 radio in New York reported Friday that, according to baseball source, it is possible Rodriguez could be suspended by the Commissioner's office, depending upon the nature of the relationship and additional information MLB investigators might learn about A-Rod's relationship with Presinal.

No date has been set for Rodriguez to meet with officials from MLB.