Top Major League Baseball drug official Rob Manfred told the New York Times on Saturday that MLB has "actively discouraged" contact with Angel Presinal, the trainer linked to Alex Rodriguez in the wake of the Yankees superstar's admitted use of steroids.

The Times story provides MLB's first official comment on Presinal since the trainer became a key figure in the ongoing story revolving around Rodriguez. A New York Daily News story earlier this week reported that Rodriguez and many other Major League players have worked out with Presinal.

"We have actively discouraged his presence in Major League facilities and have informed certain teams to discourage their players from associating with him," Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations and human resources, told the Times on Saturday.

The story recaps the information that has circulated this week since the Presinal-Rodriguez connection came to light, including references to Presinal's presence in the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs.

The Mitchell Report, released in December 2007, had a section titled, "Canadian Border Service Seizure of Steroids in Toronto, October 2001" that detailed the incident that got Presinal eventually banned from MLB clubhouses.

As detailed in the Mitchell Report, an unmarked bag that Canadian Border Service officers found to contain steroids, syringes and clenbuterol, a stimulant, was claimed by an associate of Indians outfielder Juan Gonzalez. That person told authorities the bag belonged to Presinal. "Presinal admitted that he had packed the steroids but claimed that he carried them for Gonzalez, whom he helped to administer them," the Mitchell Report stated. He later denied that to Mitchell Report investigators.

On Saturday, Manfred told the Times: "The problems with situations like the one with Gonzalez and Presinal reinforced our belief that we need to get to a strong random-testing program. Reasonable-cause testing was not workable."

According to the Mitchell Report, Presinal was banned from MLB clubhouses after being seen frequently in the Rangers' clubhouse in 2002. He was later seen in Anaheim and removed, the Mitchell Report said.

The New York Times report also quoted an anonymous member of the 2002 Rangers who said Presinal was not in the clubhouse but did assist players with stretching and in the batting cages.

"He worked with a lot of the Latino players," said the player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "He was a really nice guy, helping guys out. At no times did I ever suspect he was doing anything wrong."