TAMPA – The way Alex Rodriguez sees it, his life will continue to be under scrutiny for quite some time.
“I have to think about everything. For the next 18 months to 24 months I have to be aware, play baseball and be the best father I can be,” Rodriguez said yesterday, when asked how careful he has to be with the people he associates with in the wake of his admission to using steroids from 2001 to 2003.
The drip out of the Rodriguez faucet yesterday had him associating with Angel Presinal, a Dominican Republic strength coach who has been linked to steroids and appeared in the Mitchell Report.
Rodriguez refused to discuss his relationship with Presinal, who, according to Robinson Cano, attended a winter workout for the Dominican Republic World Baseball Classic team. Cano was under the impression Presinal was going to be with the Dominican team for the WBC next month, but according to a MLB source, that will not happen. Presinal was with the Dominican Republic team in 2006.
Rodriguez will play third base for the Dominican squad.
Why will Rodriguez have to be careful for one-and-a-half to two years?
“I always prepare for the worst. I am focusing on playing baseball and being part of a world championship team,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also didn’t talk about Yuri Sucart, the cousin he outed as a steroid-carrying mule this past Tuesday when he refused to call Sucart by name.
Though Rodriguez said he hasn’t received a firm date when MLB investigators will interview him on his steroid use, he said he believed the meeting will take place in Tampa. With Rodriguez reporting to the Dominican team March 1 in Jupiter, Fla., it’s believed MLB and Rodriguez will talk before he leaves Yankees camp. Nevertheless, MLB security officials could meet with Rodriguez on the East Coast of Florida because the Dominican team plays the Marlins, Orioles and Cardinals on March 3-5.
Presinal, who was a constant presence around the Yankees on the road in 2007 and was spotted outside Yankee Stadium last year, worked with Cano after the 2007 season, when the second baseman had a strained muscle in his side.
Despite Presinal being linked to steroids, Cano raved about his work.
“He knows what he is doing,” Cano said. “The past is the past, but he is good. I was healthy last year. I never saw [steroids].”Cano didn’t work with Presinal this past winter, claiming Presinal was too far away from his home.
“I was leaving the house at 8:30 and getting home at 4,” Cano said. “I didn’t want to go through that anymore. I hired a guy from [New] Jersey.”
Asked if Cano was worried that his name would take a hit for being associated with a strength coach in the Mitchell Report, Cano shrugged.
“To be in honest, I don’t care what happened in the past,” Cano said. “I went down to take care of an injury. I don’t care what people say, I know what I do. If I am hurt, I will go back [to Presinal].”
Rodriguez said he has limited his workouts to Dana Cavalea, the Yankees’ strength and conditioning coach.
Rodriguez said he wasn’t concerned about the steady flow of news regarding his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
“Look, I am not,” he said. “I am taking it one day at a time and focusing on playing baseball.”