Juan Gonzalez, trainer linked to steroids in ’01
August 3rd, 2006
Three weeks after Sept. 11, with airline security tightened like a tourniquet, Canadian Border Services agents at Pearson International Airport in Toronto noticed that a gym bag coming off a Cleveland Indians charter flight had no label on it, nothing to identify the owner.
That was an instant red flag, and when agents unzipped the bag they found five ampules of anabolic steroids, pills of the anabolic drug clenbuterol, along with hypodermic needles. Agents notified Toronto police and Cleveland personnel, and they allowed the bag to proceed to the Westin Harbour Castle hotel, where the club was staying, to see who claimed it.
According to a Canadian Border Services Agency seizure report, the man who picked up the bag was Angel “Nao” Presinal, then 48, a fitness trainer to the Dominican Republic’s national basketball and boxing teams and the World Baseball Classic team, who has worked with some of the biggest names ever to come to the major leagues from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico: Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo ColĂłn, Miguel Tejada, Adrian Beltre, Moises Alou, Jose Guillen, Ervin Santana, Ruben Sierra, Francisco Cordero, Jose Mesa and Juan Guzman, among others.
“He is very well-respected throughout the island,” Dominican sports minister Felipe Payano told the New York Daily News from his office in Santo Domingo. “His reputation is spotless.”
On this October 2001 night, however, Presinal was one of the satellites in two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez’s entourage.
According to the seizure report, when agents stopped Presinal, he said the bag and everything in it belonged to Gonzalez, then an outfielder for the Indians. Agents questioned both men for four hours before deciding they didn’t have enough evidence to link the bag to either of them. Gonzalez and Presinal were allowed to go free, and the bag was confiscated.
Five years later, the former companions still have opposing takes on what happened that night, and they are still tossing the bag back and forth like a hot potato.
Presinal, reached on a cell phone in Anaheim, Calif., denies that the bag was his and says he rushed out of Toronto that night because he was worried about losing his travel visa.
“I talked with Juan and told him, ‘You know I had nothing to do with this bag. You have to talk with the officials,’ ” Presinal told the Daily News in Spanish. “Juan told me, ‘Don’t worry about that or your visa. Go back to Seattle (where Cleveland would play the Mariners in the playoffs five days later). Wait for me and I’ll resolve everything.’ ”
Presinal got on a plane and was never seen around the Indians again.
Gonzalez, 36, declined to speak to a Daily News reporter in person at a recent Long Island Ducks game, where he is hitting .305 in the independent Atlantic League and attempting a major league comeback. His agent, Alan Nero, issued a statement on his behalf: “Toward the end of the 2001 season, while I was playing for the Cleveland Indians, an individual (Angel Presinal), who was traveling with me, was stopped at the border by Canadian authorities. A bag he was carrying was confiscated. To this day I am not aware of its contents. Upon finding out of the incident, I immediately contacted MLB Security. Shortly thereafter I terminated my association with Presinal.”
Short hops
San Diego right-hander Chan Ho Park is expected to have a transfusion today to treat intestinal bleeding that led him to lose half his blood volume. Park (7-6, 4.63 ERA) was placed on the disabled list Sunday. … Boston catcher Jason Varitek will have surgery today to repair torn cartilage in his left knee, and he is expected to miss at least a month. … Major League Baseball suspended infielder Marcos Chavez and pitcher Jonathan Gonzalez of the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization for 50 games each for violating the drug prevention and treatment program. … Major league baseball canceled its quarterly owners meetings scheduled for Aug. 9-10 in Toronto. The decision was made because there were no urgent items to discuss, baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said. … Tampa Bay placed reliever Travis Harper on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder injury and recalled right-hander Seth McClung from Triple-A Durham. … Catcher Mike Matheny has made little progress in his recovery from a concussion and will not play again this season for San Francisco.
